Vehicle structure
3-2 Determining frontal impact compliance
IMPORTANT: Vehicles may be exempt from the requirement to meet a frontal impact standard.
SeeTechnical bulletin 7,Technical Bulletin 8 and Technical bulletin 9 for further information.
The following information may help a vehicle inspector to apply the requirements for compliance with approved frontal impact standards.
Determine whether or not the vehicle must meet a frontal impact standard (FIS)
Refer to Figure 3-2-1 (Step 1), Figure 3-2-2 (Step 2) and Figure 3-2-3 (Step 3) to determine whether or not the vehicle needs to meet an approved frontal impact standard.
If the vehicle is not required to comply with an approved standard, continue with the inspection.
Figure 3-2-1. Step 1
If the vehicle is required to comply with an approved standard (listed in Table 3-2-1), there are several methods of determining whether or not the vehicle complies, which vary depending on the class of vehicle, the country of import and the date of manufacture.
Table 3-2-1. List of approved frontal impact standards*
UN-ECE Regulation no. | EEC/EC Directive | FMVSS | ADR | Japan |
---|---|---|---|---|
94 | 96/79 | 208 | 69 | TS for occupant protection in frontal collision. Article 18 |
* A vehicle that is required to comply with an approved frontal impact standard must comply with at least one of the standards listed in the table.
Check recognised manufacturer’s lists
The Transport Agency has been advised by several common vehicle manufacturers regarding compliance with approved frontal impact standards for particular class MA vehicles. These vehicles are listed by make and model and published on the Transport Agency website.
If a vehicle is shown on one of these lists as complying with an approved frontal impact standard, no further evidence is required to prove that the vehicle meets frontal impact standard requirements. However, a full statement of compliance is still required to prove compliance with other applicable standards, unless an alternative method of confirming standards compliance is provided.
If a vehicle is shown on one of these lists as not complying with an approved frontal impact standard, the vehicle cannot be certified unless a statement of compliance showing that the specific vehicle meets an approved frontal impact standard is provided.
Alternative methods for determining frontal impact compliance
If a vehicle is not shown on any of the recognised manufacturer’s lists, one of the following methods may be used to determine compliance with an approved frontal impact standard.
1 Vehicles imported from any country
If a class MA, MB or MC vehicle imported from any country (including Japan) is not shown on one of the recognised manufacturer’s lists, one of the following methods may be used to determine compliance with an approved frontal impact standard:
Description | Methods for determining FIS compliance |
---|---|
A class MA, MB or MC vehicle |
|
A class MA vehicle manufactured on or after 1 January 1996 |
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A class MB or MC vehicle manufactured on or after 1 January 1998 | |
A used class MA, MB or MC vehicle |
|
A new or unregistered class MA, MB or MC vehicle | An FMVSS certification plate, and
|
A used class MA, MB or MC vehicle |
|
A new or unregistered class MA, MB or MC vehicle | A CMVSS certification plate, and
|
A class MA, MB or MC vehicle |
|
A class MA, MB or MC vehicle |
|
A class MA vehicle |
|
2 Vehicles imported from Japan
If a class MA, MB or MC vehicle that was manufactured in Japan is not shown on one of the recognised manufacturer’s lists published on the Transport Agency website, one of the following methods may be used to determine frontal impact compliance.
Manufactured in Japan | ||
---|---|---|
Class | Description | Methods for determining FIS compliance |
MA | Car with an engine capacity of 660 cc or more |
|
Domestic model first registered in Japan after the end of the last year shown on the latest JAMA list (Note 1) |
| |
Car with an engine capacity less than |
| |
New/unregistered car |
| |
MB or MC | Manufactured for the Japanese domestic market |
|
Domestic model first registered in Japan after the end of the last year shown in the latest JAMA list (Note 1) |
|
Note 1
Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association’s (JAMA) books may be used to establish the date of manufacture of Japanese domestic vehicles manufactured after 1 January 1996. When using this method, a vehicle inspector must be able to verify this information and demonstrate the verification process.
Note 2
If a class MA vehicle manufactured in Japan for the Japanese domestic market is not listed in any of the JAMA charts or chassis numbers covering production from 1993 onwards, and was first registered in Japan after the end of the last year shown on the latest JAMA list, it can be assumed that the vehicle was manufactured after 1 January 1996.
Note 3
Any MA, MB or MC class vehicle imported from Japan that satisifes documentation requirements for general compliance and meets Euro 4, Japan 05 etc level emissions standards or better may be accepted as frontal impact compliant.
If a class MA, MB or MC vehicle that was manufactured outside Japan is not shown on one of the recognised manufacturer’s lists published on the NZTA website, one of the following methods may be used to determine frontal impact compliance.
Manufactured outside Japan | ||
---|---|---|
Class | Description | Methods for determining compliance |
MA | Vehicle with an engine capacity less than 660cc (mini-sized vehicle) |
|
Car with an engine capacity of 660cc or more manufactured for the Japanese market |
or
| |
Vehicle with no TDN shown on the de-registration or export certificate. |
| |
MB or MC | Manufactured for the Japanese domestic market. |
|
Vehicle with no TDN shown on the de-registration or export certificate. |
|
Note 4
Care must be taken when decoding the VIN. Not all manufacturers use the ISO standard exactly, so it cannot be taken for granted that manufacturers will always use the tenth character as year of manufacture, or that all manufacturers will use the same characters to denote the year. Table 3-2-3 shows decode data for some non-Japanese makes. Refer to the recognised manufacturers’ lists on the the NZTA website for further information.
Note 5
For further information regarding frontal impact compliance requirements for specific Mitsubishi models, refer to Technical bulletin 8 – Frontal impact compliance for Mitsubishi models.
Note 6
For further information regarding frontal impact compliance requirements for Toyota Cavalier vehicles, refer to Technical bulletin 9 – Frontal impact compliance for Toyota Cavaliers.
Note 7
For further information regarding exemptions from frontal impact compliance requirements for people-mover vehicles, refer to Technical bulletin 7 - Frontal impact standard exemptions.
Note 8
A list of the class MA Japanese makes and models that are known to be manufactured outside Japan for the Japanese domestic market are shown in Table 3-2-2.
Table 3-2-2. Japanese vehicles manufactured outside Japan
Ford Note: Some Ford models are built in Japan in partnership with Mazda | Festiva (Korea) Ka (Spain) Mondeo (Belgium) | Probe (US) Taurus (US) Escape (Taiwan) |
Honda | Accord CD3, CD7, CD8, CE1, CF2 (US) Accord Inspire UA4, UA5 | Civic Coupe EJ7 (US) LaGreat RL1 (US) |
Mitsubishi | Carisma (Belgium and the Netherlands) Magna station wagon (Australia) | Diamante (Australia) |
Nissan | Bluebird ‘Aussie’ (Australia) Primera E-FHP11 (Great Britain) | AD station wagon R-MVFY10 (Mexico) Mistral (Spain) |
Toyota | Avalon (US) Cavalier (US) | Scepter (US) Voltz (US) |
Subaru | Traviq (Germany) |
Table 3-2-3. VIN decode data for some European makes
Make | VINs starting with: | Make | VINs starting with: |
---|---|---|---|
Audi | WAU, WUA or TRU | Hyundai | KMH |
Cadillac | 1G6 | Jeep | 1J4 or 1J8 |
Chrysler | 1A8, 1C3, 1C4 or 1C8 | Land Rover | SAL |
Daewoo | KLA or KL1 | Opel | W0L |
Ford China | LFA | Porsche | WP0 or WP1 |
Ford Europe* | WF0 | Saab | YS3 |
Ford USA | 1FA or 1FM | Volkswagen | WVW or WVG |
* All of the above vehicle manufacturers use the tenth character as model year, except Ford Europe, which uses the eleventh character as year of manufacture.
Figure 3-2-4. Flowchart for determining frontal impact compliance for class MA vehicles
Figure 3-2-5. Flowchart for determining frontal impact compliance for class MB and MC vehicles
Page amended 1 November 2017 (see amendment details).