A driver in Johannesburg checks the dashboard of a 2024 sedan, unaware that the car may soon be required to carry additional safety equipment.
The National Regulator for Compulsory Specifications has put forward a set of mandatory requirements that would raise the minimum safety standards for light passenger vehicles sold in South Africa. The proposal was outlined by Bobby Ramagwede, chief executive of the Automobile Association of South Africa, during an interview on The Money Show.
What the new rules would require
The draft specifications call for three key upgrades. First, electronic stability control, a system that helps drivers keep all four wheels on the road by preventing skidding, would become compulsory. Second, the number of airbags would increase, reflecting the fact that modern cars often carry more than two occupants and that side-impact crashes can be especially lethal. Third, the regulator would require stronger materials in the vehicle structure, meaning the metal and other components that protect occupants in a crash would have to meet a higher strength threshold.
According to the AA, current South African regulations set a relatively low bar for safety. Manufacturers can argue they are complying with the law because the existing rules do not demand the technologies now being proposed. Ramagwede said, “Today, manufacturers argue that they’re not breaking any laws, which is factual because the regulations are set so low.” The AA’s crash testing programme has highlighted that vehicles sold in Africa often use thinner, weaker reinforcement than comparable models in Europe, the United States or Australia.
For car dealers, importers and small fleet owners, the changes could affect purchasing decisions and pricing. The AA believes any increase in vehicle cost should be modest, noting that manufacturers have previously justified lower safety specs by claiming they needed to keep prices affordable. Ramagwede added, “If you can make a safe car in a different territory, it shouldn’t be a question. You should manufacture the same calibre of safety for every other market because no two different lives are worth different amounts.”
The broader picture is a road safety record that still lags behind many developed markets. The AA estimates that about 60% of accidents are caused by driver behaviour, a factor the association says will continue to dominate road-death statistics even after the new standards take effect.
Enforcement of the proposed rules would fall to the National Regulator for Compulsory Specifications once the regulations become law. The regulator would apply the standards to both locally manufactured vehicles and imports. While the draft excludes minibus taxis for now, the AA says it is already discussing safety improvements for that sector with government officials.
Small business owners who rely on vehicle fleets should start reviewing the specifications of current and future purchases. Monitoring compliance will become part of the AA’s ongoing market surveillance, and early preparation could avoid regulatory penalties.
The proposal marks a shift towards aligning South Africa’s vehicle safety expectations with those of major global markets. Even if the new rules raise the bar, the AA reminds motorists that safer cars are only one part of the solution, driver behaviour remains the biggest variable in road safety outcomes.
Why South Africa’s safety floor sits below other markets
The gap the AA describes, between what regulation compels and what a manufacturer could technically build, is a recurring pattern in vehicle markets without strong mandatory crash-safety regimes: a manufacturer selling the same platform in Europe and South Africa can legally strip out costly safety content for the local market specifically because South African regulation does not yet require it, even though the underlying vehicle architecture could support the full specification at a relatively modest incremental cost. That is a different problem from cars simply being unaffordable; it is a case where the regulatory floor itself has not kept pace with what the technology already allows, which is precisely the gap compulsory specifications are designed to close by making the safer build the only legal one to sell, rather than leaving it as an optional, unrewarded extra.
