World Forum for Harmonization of Vehicle Regulations

Detlef Alwes, an engineer from Germany, suggested to me that the U.S. should discuss underride protection with the World Forum for Harmonization of Vehicle Regulations. I had never heard of it before. Apparently, the U.S. has not had much involvement with it in the past–at least not as far as underride protection.

But doesn’t it make sense to collaborate with other countries and come up with the safest possible vehicle regulations?

Most countries, even if not formally participating in the 1958 agreement, recognise the UN Regulations and either mirror the UN Regulations’ content in their own national requirements, or permit the import, registration, and use of UN type-approved vehicles, or both. The United States and Canada are the two significant exceptions; their UN regulations are generally not recognised and UN-compliant vehicles and equipment are not authorised for import, sale, or use in the US, unless they are tested to be compliant with US car safety laws, or for limited non driving use (e.g. car show displays).^[4]

“The World Forum for Harmonization of Vehicle Regulations is a working party (WP.29)^[1] of the Inland Transport Division of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE). It is tasked with creating a uniform system of regulations, called UN Regulations, for vehicle design to facilitate international trade.

WP.29 was established on June 1952 as “Working party of experts on technical requirement of vehicles”; the current name was adopted in 2000.

The forum works on regulations covering vehicle safety, environmental protection, energy efficiency and theft-resistance.” World Forum for Harmonization of Vehicle Regulations