The world and its economy are currently going through, what we could perhaps politely call, “significant developments”. A major global economic player seems to have decided to march to a rather different tune than the rest of the world.
The US is about to hit the EU automotive industry with 20-25% tariffs, the EU will no doubt retaliate. This trade war for the US concerns bringing back a manufacturing base into national borders, and to extract as many “deals” as possible for current home-grown industries, including the automotive industry. But it is not the tariffs per se that should concern us, it is the resolution of the “trade war” and how that would be managed.
If the US were to cut a deal with the EU on reducing or even scrapping tariffs on US manufactured vehicles entering the EU what impact would that have on the type of vehicle entering the EU?
Even if the EU were to acquiesce to reducing tariffs for US imports, US vehicles would not suddenly flood into the EU, they could not pass the EU’s stricter vehicle requirements. But the next stage after a reduction on tariffs could be a push for ‘equivalence’ in standards and regulations, or mutual recognition of vehicles. This could also be offered as a deal to sweeten other trade options with the US.
This would be very problematic for the safety of European cyclists, pedestrians, and all other road users. And it is a very real possibility, with the Financial times reporting that EU officials see “positive momentum” in talks to avoid a transatlantic trade war and the “priority” is to do a deal on cars (Report, 20 February 2025) .
Different US and EU vehicle Regulations
Motor vehicles in the EU have a strict regulatory system of control called
Whole Vehicle Type Approval which every manufacturer must make sure their vehicle conforms to. An example “type” of a mass-produced vehicle must pass a whole system of independent tests and procedures in order to be able to be sold into the EU single market. Just last year a whole raft of safety measures such as Intelligent Speed Assistance, Automatic Emergency Braking, and better passive safety came into force for EU vehicles.
The US has a very different system. It is a self certification system, whereby a manufacturer is guided by a set of standards called the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards. These standards cover various safety aspects, including crashworthiness, crash avoidance, and post-crash survivability. The manufacturer tests the vehicle under its own supervision and then affixes a certification label.
Of course, if the vehicle crashes and is seen to not have conformed to the FMVSS standards then expect a large payout in lawsuits. However, these vehicles are self-certified by the manufacturer, not independent, and are certainly not as comprehensive as the EU independent testing regime. There is limited oversight by public authority, a public authority that is now also being dismantled before our eyes and which may not have the resources in the future to verify any compliance issues. This is in a sense privatising vehicle safety and leaving it to the general public acting through well paid lawyers to keep a check on vehicle safety through the impact of eyewatering payouts in lawsuits if vehicles are involved in crashes are not conforming to the standards.
Also, there are many safety measures that are required in the EU that are not of US vehicles. ISA, driver distraction, AEB for cyclists/pedestrians, etc. are not included in these self-assessed requirements. US manufacturers are not required to conform to UNECE Regulation 127 on pedestrian safety, nor do they really have an equivalent, other than the consumer focussed NCAP system, which works well for interested consumers, but is no substitution for an independently, state secured, regulatory system.
Pick-up trucks and road safety
The US is also the home to the monster-sized pick-up truck. The Ford F-150 and the RAM pick-ups are now the top two popular brands in the US; and this is playing havoc with the number of cyclists and pedestrians dying on the roads.
In the EU we worry about road fatalities stagnating, and rightly so, but in the US
cyclist fatalities have increased 53% and
pedestrian fatalities 46 percent over the past decade, correlated very strongly with the
growth of these vehicles in the US market.
That is why ECF has, along with nine other concerned European and International organisations, co-signed a letter to European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, and other Commissioners, laying out our objections to any regulatory equivalence.
The text is below;
To:
Ursula von der Leyen – President of the European Commission
CC:
Stéphane Séjourné – Executive Vice President for Prosperity and Industrial Strategy
Wopke Hoekstra - Commissioner for Climate, Net Zero and Clean Growth
Michael McGrath – Commissioner for Democracy, Justice, the Rule of Law and Consumer
Protection
Maroš Šefčovič – Commissioner for Trade and Economic Security, Interinstitutional Relations
and Transparency
Apostolos Tzitzikostas – Commissioner for Sustainable Transport and Tourism
27 March 2025
Dear President Von der Leyen,
The EU is entering difficult and uncharted trade negotiations with the United States, and there is much attention on the automotive sector. We ask you, in the strongest possible terms, not to offer ‘equivalence’ or mutual recognition of US vehicle safety and environmental standards as part of these negotiations.
This would be a catastrophic mistake, and the consequences would be measured in the deaths of men, women and children on EU roads. It would also severely undermine the EU’s single market and world-leading automotive safety standards, and lead to unfair competition in the vehicle market.
Both EU and foreign vehicle manufacturers currently compete on a level playing field with respect to product safety, sustainability and environmental requirements. Granting and unsupported and blatantly incorrect label of ‘equivalence’ to vehicles falling below EU standards would severely bias competition in favour of non-EU manufacturers and negatively impact the EU goals to reduce road deaths and transition to cleaner vehicles.
EU and US vehicle standards are not equivalent. During negotiations for the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership a decade ago, a study commissioned by the car industry found that EU models were, on average, 33% safer in terms of risk of a serious injury in common front-side crashes.
The US has no mandatory safety standards for pedestrian protection on new vehicles.
In the years since TTIP, EU and US safety standards have diverged further. Since last year, all vehicles sold on the EU market have required mandatory fitting of multiple safety technologies such as automated emergency braking and emergency lane-keeping systems. These new standards are predicted to prevent thousands of deaths over the coming years. The vast majority of them are currently not mandatory in the US.
Since 2013, road deaths in the EU have decreased by 16%. In the US they have increased by 25%. The US approach on vehicle automation is also not compatible with EU standards. Unproven partial automation technologies have been permitted on vehicles on US roads and linked to numerous fatal collisions. The EU, meanwhile, follows standards and test requirements agreed at EU level and at the UNECE.
While we understand the need to find a constructive outcome and prevent a trade war, we want to stress that the protection of European citizens from death or serious injury on the road is non-negotiable.
Yours sincerely,
Antonio Avenoso, Executive Director, European Transport Safety Council
Laurianne Krid, Director General, Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) Region I
Stephen Russell, Director-General, ANEC - The European Consumer Voice in Standardisation
André Sobczak, Secretary General, Eurocities
Robert Štaba, President, FEVR - European Federation of Road Traffic Victims
Barbara Stoll, Director, Clean Cities Campaign
William Todts, Executive Director, Transport & Environment
Karen Vancluysen, Secretary General, POLIS
Geert van Waeg, President, International Federation of Pedestrians
Jill Warren, CEO, European Cyclists’ Federation
Link to letter and references can be found
here.
