Homologation >> Vehicle Standards Schedules End of Series Type Approvals IVA / NSSTA Conversions / Adaptations Disabled Driver
Homologation (Motor Industry) is the granting of approval by an official Authority. This may be a court of law, a government department, or an academic or Professional Body, ALL of which would normally work from a set of strict rules or standards to determine whether such approvals should be granted and audited at intervals to ensure they are accurate and compliant.
The Professional Body charged with accreditation in Ireland is the National Standards Authority of Ireland (NSAI). Each of the 28 European Member States are assigned a “Number” – in the case of Ireland this is “24” and is referenced on ALL approvals (tests/certifications etc) granted by the NSAI.
In today’s marketplace, for instance, some public agencies are charged to assure that standards in areas such as safety and environmental impact are achieved. In Ireland the Road Safety Authority (RSA) is the responsible Body in question.
The equivalent process of testing and certification for conformance to technical standards is usually known as Type Approval.
Vehicle Type Approval:
Vehicle Type Approval is the confirmation that production samples of a design meet specified performance standards. Traditionally, there are two systems of Type Approval in Europe.
The first one based on the EC Directives and regulates the approval of whole vehicles, vehicle systems, and separate components.
The second one is part of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe regulations (UNECE) and also regulates the approval of whole vehicles, vehicle systems, and separate components.
** Recent changes to the requirements have seen the General Safety Regulation (GSR) EC661/2009 amending Directive 2007/46/EC by substituting the equivalent UNECE Regulations in place of the EC Directives. In effect the Directives are being replaced by UNECE Regulations. This now makes compliance with the UNECE Regulations for Type Approval submissions compulsory from 1 November 2012 and compulsory for all vehicles entering to service from 1 November 2014.
The new Framework Directive 2007/46/EC (Whole Vehicle Type Approval – WVTA) establishes a framework for the approval of new Motor Vehicles and their Trailers, including their systems, components and separate technical units intended for use / placement onto the European Market.