Around 3,000 0K vehicles which are still available in the market do not comply with the minimum safety requirements established by Law 19,061, which complements the Traffic Law coming into force today and which includes other measures such as the child retention and the reflective vest.
The regulation was approved in January 2013 and obliges the existence of ABS, headrest, seatbelts and at least front and lateral airbags in all 0K vehicles.
Of those 3,000 units, around 1,000 are cars; the rest includes small, large and utilitarian trucks, according to the President of Ascoma (Asociación de Concesionarios y Marcas Automotores). Just 100 vehicles correspond to non Asian brands, but most of them are Chery and FAW.
Last Friday, President José Mujica signed a decree which allows the sale of 0K without safety measures for 18 more months. Romelli believes such period is enough to "dilute the stock".
Ignacio Paz, General Manager of Acau (Uruguayan Association of Automotive Commerce), said that the amount of vehicles without safety devices is minimum, so it does not impact on the general conditions of the operation of 860,000 vehicles which were renovated during the last years.
Models and Makes
As from this day, some models won´t be able to enter the country. "This is not just for Chinese vehicles", said Paz. For example, Suzuki Maruti Alto 800 (from US$ 11,990), Nissan Sentra B13 (US$ from 15,650), Fiat Uno Evo Way (US$ 17,990) and Changhe Tico (from US$ 12,990) shall not be sold unless they include airbags and ANB to their new versions.
Romelli said that Hyundai and Fiat brought versions without double airbag or ABS with the idea of offering more economical models. Such was the case of models like i10 (US$ 15,100), Eon 800 (from US$ 12,990) and Accent (from US$ 25,300) and Siena and Palio Attractive (from US$ 17,990), respectively. The same happened with other makes: Chery QQ 308 and 3011 (from US$ 9,990), FAW N5 (US$ 12,990), Chana Mini Benni (US$ 11,990) and JAC J2 (from US$ 12,190).
"There are small utilitarian vehicles, such as DFSK y Chery which do not count on such devices and these will not be incorporated. These are not manufactured in any part of the world. In such case, those will be able to enter the country" said Romelli.
Ascoma´s President said that the incorporation of Airbag and ABS implies an additional cost of 3% for the vehicles which values is under US$ 12,000.
Paz believes the decision corresponds to the "marketing strategy" of each company, but in no case it is possible to state that the “vehicle becomes more expensive” as these are models with better features. The impact on the final price could vary between US$1,000 and US$2,500.
Survival
The obligatory use of ABS arrives to Uruguay 20 years later than to Europe. It is a device that prevents the wheels from being blocked during a sudden break, and the breaking distance is multiplied.
The airbag is an element of passive safety. It aims at smoothing the stopping of the passengers´ bodies inside the vehicle. It is estimated that in case of a front impact, its use may reduce the risk of death around a 30%. Another element is the headrest, which should be positioned at the eyes height. It aims at minimizing the cervical injuries.
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