China Automotive Technology and Research Center, referred to as China Automobile Center, or China Automobile Research Institute. It is most widely known by netizens is the C-NCAP crash test. However, for a long time, netizens have a bad understanding of C-NCAP. It is even jokingly called the "five-star wholesale department". And I recently had the opportunity to go to the China Automotive Technology and Research Center. There is a new understanding of this institution.
[1] A public welfare enterprise directly under the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission
China Automotive Technology and Research Center Co., Ltd. is a scientific research institute established in 1985 with the approval of the State Science and Technology Commission according to the needs of the state for the management of the automotive industry, and is the only technical focal point of the automotive industry in China and the technical support institution of the competent department of the national government. In August 2003, with the approval of the State Council, it was transferred to the direct management of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council. Therefore, the China Automotive Technology and Research Center is a proper state-owned enterprise. And it is a public welfare enterprise, not for profit. Therefore, it is not to mention the "collection of money" to give the car a five-star praise.
【2】What is the main work of China Automotive Technology and Research Center?
Is the main job of the China Automotive Technology and Research Center C-NCAP crash test? It's just part of their job. The more important work of the China Automotive Technology and Research Center is to develop safety standards for the automotive industry. And the safety standards it sets are binding and require all automakers to comply with such standards. If the car does not meet safety standards, then it cannot be produced. Therefore, the automotive safety standards formulated by the China Automotive Technology and Research Center are national standards.
Of course, in addition to safety, including vehicle emission standards and related technical specifications, they are also within the scope of the work of the China Automotive Technology and Research Center.
[3] Why are there so many five-star safe cars?
C-NCAP is known as the five-star wholesale department, mainly because of the fact that there are nine models that can receive C-NCAP 5-star reviews. Only a few did not meet the five-star rating. Why is this happening?
First, C-NCAP's crash tests are all open-book exams for automakers. Because the C-NCAP collision standard has long been public. Therefore, various automakers have already undergone repeated tests in product development or in their own laboratories. And the collision rules of C-NCAP have been thoroughly studied. Therefore, when the C-NCAP crash test is passed, the probability of five stars is greatly improved.
Second, there are hundreds of new cars on the market in China every year, and if each new car is crash tested, then the other work of the China Automotive Technology and Research Center will not be carried out. Therefore, not all models listed in the Chinese market will undergo crash tests. Part of it is the China Automotive Technology and Research Center that buys tests itself. Part of it is a test given away by automakers. Many people say that the vehicle sent by the manufacturer for testing has not been strengthened by parts? It can be said responsibly that it is impossible. There are two reasons, one is that the manufacturers who send the test must have confidence in their own products, otherwise they will not take the initiative to send them for testing. Second, manufacturers need to do further research on the data after the C-NCAP collision to improve products and continuously improve safety. Therefore, there will be no manufacturer who is stupid enough to know that the product is not safe, and by giving individual models to strengthen safety to test, this will hit the muzzle of the gun. And such a counterfeit can also be seen through by the China Automotive Technology and Research Center.
Therefore, the C-NCAP collision standard is public, and the number of models that C-NCAP collides with every year is limited, and many of them are cars that are actively tested by manufacturers, so it is not surprising that there are many models with 5-star safety.
[4] Why doesn't C-NCAP do a two-vehicle crash test?
Recently, in order to make more exciting content, some automotive media will do a two-car crash test to compare and show the safety of different brands of vehicles, which has received a lot of attention. But C-NCAP does not do two-car crash tests of different brands.
I was also curious about this question when I visited the China Automotive Technology and Research Center. The response was that, first of all, the C-NCAP crash test has a rigorous testing process, and various sensors are arranged in the car before the collision to record data, and there are also sensors outside the body. So the data after the collision is very important. But today, many media review agencies do not have a standardized process and do not record data. Just after the collision, look at the broken state, which does not reflect the real safety status.
Second, the C-NCAP crash test carried out by the China Automotive Technology and Research Center is not to compare the safety level, but to improve the safety performance of the car brand through high-standard testing. Urge automakers to continuously improve vehicle safety. As a state-owned enterprise, it is easy to misunderstand consumers through the comparison of two-car collisions. This is not the original intention of the C-NCAP crash test.