Mexico’s booming car industry selling unsafe cars

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RAMOS ARIZPE, Mexico (AP) — In Mexico’s booming autoindustry, the cars rolling off assembly lines
may look identical, buthow safe they are depends on where they’re headed.Vehiclesdestined to stay in Mexico
or go south to the rest of Latin Americacarry a code signifying there’s no need for antilock braking
systems,electronic stability control, or more than two air bags, if any, in itsbasic models.If the cars will
be exported to the United States orEurope, however, they must meet stringent safety laws, including asmany
as six to 10 air bags, and stability controls that compensate forslippery roads and other road dangers, say
engineers who have worked inMexico-based auto factories.Because the price of the two versionsof the cars is
about the same, the dual system buttresses the bottomlines of automakers such as General Motors and Nissan.
But it’s beingblamed for a surge in auto-related fatalities in Mexico, where lawsrequire virtually no safety
protections."We are paying for carsthat are far more expensive and far less safe," said Alejandro
Furas,technical director for Global New Car Assessment Program, or NCAP, avehicle crash-test group.
"Something is very wrong."In 2011,nearly 5,000 drivers and passengers in Mexico died in accidents,
a 58percent increase since 2001, according to the latest available data fromthe country’s transportation
department. Over the same decade, the U.S.reduced the number of auto-related fatalities by 40 percent. The
deathrate in Mexico, when comparing fatalities with the size of the carfleet, is more than 3.5 times that of
the U.S.Nevertheless,Mexico hasn’t introduced any safety proposals other than general seatbelt requirements
for its 22-million strong auto fleet. Even then, thelaws don’t mandate three-point shoulder belts necessary
to secure childsafety seats.Brazil and Argentina, on the other hand, have passedlaws requiring all vehicles
to have dual front air bags and antilockbraking systems by next year.An Associated Press investigationthis
year found that Brazil’s auto plants produce cars aimed at LatinAmerican consumers that lack basic safety
features. Like Brazil, Mexicodoesn’t run its own crash test facility to rank cars’ safety before theyhit the
road.Dr. Arturo Cervantes Trejo, director of the MexicanHealth Ministry’s National Accident Prevention
Council, said thecountry has a long way to go to upgrade safety standards, butchallenging the nation’s $30
billion auto industry could be difficult."It’sa complicated subject because of the amount of money
carmakers bring tothis country. The economy protects them," Cervantes told the AP. "Butthere are
plans, there is a strategy. We have a working group with thecar industry."Auto plants cover a swath of
central Mexico,cranking out about 3 million cars a year while lifting into the middleclass auto hubs in the
states of Aguascalientes and Puebla. In a matterof a few years, Mexico has become the world’s fourth biggest
autoexporter, despite having no homegrown brands, and the country’s carfleet doubled between 2001 and 2011,
the latest national figures show.In fact, consumers in "first-world" countries are paying the same
or even less for safer cars.Forexample, basic versions of Mexico’s second most popular car, the NissanVersa,
made in central Aguascalientes, come with two air bags, butwithout electronic stability control systems,
which use sensors toactivate brakes when a car loses control.The sticker price of thenewer generation of the
sedan comes to $16,000. The U.S. version of thesame car has six air bags in the front, on the sides and
mounted in theroof, in addition to an electronic stability control system. Thatsticker price is about
$14,000.Similarly, the basic version ofthe Chevrolet Aveo, which has been revamped and renamed Sonic, sells
forabout $14,000 in the U.S. and comes with 10 air bags, antilock brakesand traction control. Its Mexican
equivalent, the country’s top-sellingcar, doesn’t have any of those protections and costs only $400
less.NissanMexicana spokesman Herman Morfin said in a statement it is "commonpractice" to add
different features, depending on the intended market."Becausethere are many choices of specifications
and equipment, specificmarketing strategies by country, in addition to the tax difference amongcountries,
states and cities, also including transportation anddelivery costs, it’s not possible to make a direct
comparison amongvehicles sold in each market, based on the list price published on theWeb," Morfin
said.Morfin said two of Nissan’s most popular models— the Versa and the Sentra — are packaged with two air
bags and anantilock braking system, which is more than what’s required by theMexican government.While GM
declined repeated requests tocomment, an engineer who headed a manufacturing division at the companyin
Mexico until last year said the company saved on costs by not addingsafety features."For the company to
make more net profit and sothat cars are sold at more affordable prices, we would toss aside
someaccessories. Air bags, ABS brakes, those were the first to go," theengineer said. He spoke on
condition of anonymity, citing aconfidentiality agreement with the company.Three other engineerswho worked
with Nissan and GM for four years and are still involved inauto design for other carmakers were interviewed
on similar conditionsof anonymity, and they confirmed the companies built cars with vastlydifferent safety
features depending on where they’d be sold.TheU.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said air
bags andelectronic stability control have prevented tens of thousands ofinjuries in auto accidents and
reduced fatal crashes by as much as athird in the U.S.Paco de Anda, the director of the Mexicanchapter for
the accident-prevention group Safe Kids, said Latin Americanconsumers have to pay extra for those
protections."Features thatare already mandatory in other countries, here they are selling them
asoptional items," De Anda said. "People here have no education aboutroad safety … so they don’t
pay for it."A GM worker who getspaid $100 a week said people in Latin America cannot afford to buy
carsthat are fully loaded with safety features."We’re not first-worldcountries," said the worker,
who asked not to be identified because hewas afraid of losing his job at the GM plant in the town of
RamosArizpe, where Chevrolet Sonics, Cadillac SRXs and Captiva SUVs areassembled.Yet crash test results show
exactly what’s being sacrificed for savings.Oneof Nissan’s most popular models in Mexico, the Tsuru, is so
outdated ithas only lap seat belts in the back and some versions have no air bagsat all. The car is not sold
in the U.S. or Europe.At a recentLatin NCAP crash test presentation, the Tsuru’s driver’s door ripped
offupon impact at only 37 mph. Its roof collapsed and the steering wheelslammed against the crash test
dummy’s chest. The Tsuru scored zerostars out of a possible five.When asked about the crash test,Nissan
representatives replied in an email that "consumers continue toask for it because of its durability,
reliability and affordability,"without responding specifically to the test results. More than
300,000Tsurus have been sold in Mexico in the past six years, at about $10,000each.Carlos Gomez and his wife
Diana Martinez were driving theirtwo small children in a red Tsuru from their northern Mexican town ofDoctor
Arroyo across the length of Mexico to Chiapas state for Holy Weekholidays in March. The sky turned dark as
they neared central Mexico,and less than 250 miles from home they were hit head-on by a drunkendriver in a
red Ford Ranger pickup truck.The couple died fromchest and head injuries; the steering wheel struck Gomez’s
chest and thedashboard crushed his wife’s head. The children survived but spentweeks in the hospital.
Six-year-old Carlos still wears a cast from thewaist down. He cannot walk."Their car was way worse off
than thecar the other boy was driving," said the mother’s brother, AgustinMartinez. "We want more
robust cars."The family said theinvestigation didn’t determine whether air bags would have saved
theparents’ lives, but there was an air bag in the truck that struck them.The driver was not injured.Furas,
of Global NCAP, said changingautomaker behavior will require the region’s few watchdog groups andespecially
government regulators to apply far more pressure onautomakers.Volkswagen, for one, began adding two air bags
to itsClasico model after the German carmaker learned that Latin NCAP wasgoing to choose the car for crash
testing because of its popularity,Furas said. The model sold in Europe and the U.S. as Jetta comesstandard
with six air bags."Mexico has to take a good look atitself, at the problems it’s facing," Furas
said. "It is selling unsafecars to its own people, when it can be selling safe cars that it
canbuild."___Adriana Gomez Licon is on Twitter http://twitter.con/agomezliconCopyright 2013 The
Associated Press. All rightsreserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten
orredistributed.

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