Quote:
Originally Posted by supafamous
Beyond the roof crash test - how different/better/worse are the Euro standards vs NA standards? Seems silly that we can't accept each others standards (I know all about the stupid headlight shit) - it's not like the EU doesn't care about safety (they seem pretty rigorous if anything).
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What each region optimizes for:
- EU protects other pedestrians, cyclists, breathing, etc.
- NA protects Americans and their unbelted, head-on, rollover crashes with pickup trucks on highways
Regulatory approach:
- ECE type rating is performance-based - do whatever you want as long as you don't cause harm. Matrix headlights? Fine, just don't blind anyone. Chinese ADAS? Fine, just store data securely.
- NA FMVSS is prescriptive. Your headlight has two states, your battery vents _this_ way. This is why matrix headlights and Audi wagons didn't make it here.
Crash test difficulty:
- Basic NHTSA is not too hard - adds roof crush, the barriers are rigid, and unbelted test.
- IIHS is the real challenge - small overlap is 7x harder, side impact is 2x harder, and the insurers that fund it will absolutely wanna put Chinese EVs through this to price their risk.
Most car companies design for both, but if your primary market doesn't have a hard crash test, they're not gonna add extra 12 months, 10M in cost, and $1-3k in cost per car to meet US regs.