In part one, we discussed road car homologation as it’s done in the Old World – i.e. certification of vehicles through independent testing, carried out by bodies approved by governments. Today we’ll have a look at how things are done in the Land of the Free – so-called ‘self-certification’.
Self-certification is a bit like drunk driving. You yourself judge if you are sober enough to drive. If you are just a little bit over the limit, you may well get home safe and sound and never give it a second thought. But if you do happen to have an accident, it will change your life forever – blue flashing lights and serious people in dark uniforms will quickly, and rightly, make you regret the choice you made.
The homologation system in force in the US (and Canada) is a bit like this – it depends on car makers acting like grown-ups. The US Government makes the rules very clear – in this case those rules being known as the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards. The set of FMVS standards are the equivalent of the WVTA rulebook published by the European Union. But here is where things diverge. Because, in the normal run of things, neither the US Federal Government nor individual states carry out any kind of independent testing. They simply tell OEMs that they have to comply, and ask them to declare formally that this is the case. It’s then up the OEMs to put on their big boys’ pants and make damn sure they do.
