AA welcomes new vehicle safety standards

The Automobile Association of South Africa has welcomed the revision of the minimum safety standards for all new passenger cars sold in South Africa.

This comes after the government gazetted the Draft Compulsory Specification for Motor Vehicles of Category M1, which proposes new safety standards for all new passenger cars sold in the local market.

The draft regulations have been published for public comment within two months of publication.

The AA says the revised safety standards must be applied across all derivatives and specification levels of new vehicles sold in the country.

AA CEO Bobby Ramagwede says, “The issue that we’re dealing with is that the safety standards in South Africa are far below the safety regulations of other territories.

Basically in SA, you can get away with two airbags, and that’s pretty much it that’s required for safety.

In European and Australian markets, you have to have at least six airbags, electronic stability control, and far stronger material used to protect the occupants of a vehicle…” “So, ushering in this new era of regulation is supported; in fact, we were lobbying for the past 10 years to get those regulations raised to the point that we are par or equal to our European counterparts,” Ramagwede says.

AA calls for stronger car safety standards South Africa has published proposed updates to raise minimum safety standards for new passenger cars under the Draft Compulsory Specification for Motor Vehicles of Category M1 (VC 8022).

The National Regulator for Compulsory Specifications (NRCS) issued the draft in Government Gazette No.

54970 on 10 July 2026, opening a two-month public comment window ending on 10 September 2026.

The key proposed safety changes are: Airbags: Updates and strengthens mandatory airbag requirements.

Side-impact protection: Introduces stricter rules for protecting occupants during side collisions, while Electronic stability control (ESC) proposes making ESC a tougher standard requirement.