Safe fleets as part of a safe work environment

In recent years global companies have adopted a five stars fleet policy, meaning that they only buy or hire five stars cars models for their fleet. Following global best practices for work health and safety, fleets became part of the necessary improvement of the working environment. Some worker unions and employees in Latin American market have been requesting to their fleet managers to hire or buy five stars models for their own safety and for a safer work environment.

Since 2016 and under the latest protocol, the New Cars Assessment Programme for Latin America and the Caribbean, Latin NCAP, has tested and published three of the most popular pick-ups models in the region: Ford Ranger, Nissan Frontier/Navara NP300 and Toyota Hilux.

As some global companies begin to introduce a five stars fleet policy and others are planning to follow in the next years, in the case of field operations where pick-ups are playing a key role, Latin NCAP believes that manufacturers such as Ford, Volkswagen, Nissan, Mitsubishi and Chevrolet should follow and match Toyota for five stars safety Hilux and offer five stars safety vehicles for its occuants .

Cars are the work environment for many workers in the Latin America region. Many companies introduce global safety standards for industrial processes and workers safety, therefore Latin NCAP believes fleet vehicles should be considered as one of the main parts of work environment for field operations.

When a five stars fleet policy is adopted, Latin NCAP strongly recommends to announce it with at least 6 months in advance, and not directly choosing from the available five stars models published. By this it allows car manufacturers to improve the local models to the new requirement of five stars rating.

Alejandro Furas, Latin NCAP Secretary General said:

“ Being the Hilux one of the most popular pickups in the region and offering standard five stars safety, there are no reasons for the other manufacturers not to offer the same safety levels as standard in the Latin American market. Latin NCAP welcomes and supports 100% the five stars fleet policy not just for mining companies, but for public use fleet like taxis, and new transport platforms”.

About Latin NCAP

The Latin New Car Assessment Programme (Latin NCAP) was launched in 2010 to develop a regional system of independent crashworthiness and safety rating across Latin America and Caribbean (LAC). Latin NCAP replicates similar consumer testing programmes developed over the last thirty years in North America, Europe, Asia and Australia, and which have proved to be very effective in improving the safety of motor vehicles. Since 2010 Latin NCAP has published the results of more than one hounded cars, all results available at www.latinncap.com/results .

Latin NCAP acknowledges the support received by the Global New Car Assessment Programme (Global NCAP), International Consumer Research and Testing (ICRT), FIA Foundation, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) and Bloomberg Philanthropies Global Road Safety Initiative.

Latin NCAP is an Associate member of Global NCAP and supports the United Nations Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011-2020 and the Stop the Crash Partnership .

More info: www.latinncap.com