SASO: 2017 is the beginning of mandatory application of additional safety requirements in cars.
SASO announced that it has obligated all car manufacturers and their agents in the Kingdom with a number of safety requirements, according to the last updated Gulf Technical Regulation No."42" for motor vehicles' general requirements.
SASO noted that it cannot permit any car not conforming to Gulf / Saudi technical regulations. The manufacturer shall provide a certificate of conformity stating the vehicle's fulfillment for all standard specifications, in addition to Gulf and Saudi technical regulations. The certificate shall be approved by GSO after examining its data and test results submitted by the manufacturer in addition to a technical team, from the GCC Standardization Organization, attendance of safety-related tests at the manufacturing company to ensure compliance with relevant technical regulations that the GSO is periodically involved in.
Safety requirements, that have been added, include the obligatory presence of air bags for the front passenger in addition to the former obligation to include driver's air bags. They also include the obligatory presence of an anti-lock braking system (ABS), electronic stability control (ESC) system, and brake override System (BOS) for models starting from 2017. Some of these requirements were optional in the former regulation.
SASO reaffirmed giving the automotive sector great care to provide the highest safety and quality requirements in imported cars to save life and property and reduce traffic accidents and injuries caused by them. SASO also noted that more than 480 Saudi standards were issued, including 102 technical regulations, for motor vehicles' tires and spare parts in line with global technical regulations for developed countries in the auto industry such as "US federal regulations" which are considered one of the most important references, for being the most stringent in terms of safety, as well as the technical regulations issued by the European Economic Commission WP29, which all industrialized countries as well as the Kingdom and all member states in the GSO work to comply with them. SASO clarified that differences, that may occur between cars imported to the Kingdom and cars imported to other countries, are in some additional accessories which have no direct relationship to the basic safety specifications in cars.