§ Mr. Roebuckasked the Minister of Transport (1) if she will introduce a regulation requiring the doors of new motor cars to be fitted with anti-burst locks;
(2) if she will introduce regulations requiring the dashboards on new motor cars to be padded and knobs and controls recessed;
123W(3) if she will introduce regulations to compel manufacturers to construct the steering columns of motor cars in such a way that the risk of drivers being impaled on them in collisions is reduced.
§ Mr. SwinglerThese safety design requirements are certainly desirable and many British cars achieve these effects by one means or another. Safety design features are a subject of continuing discussion between our Mechanical Engineers and the motor manufacturers.
Regulations making these requirements compulsory would need to be based on precise standards specifying how these effects can best be obtained in all types of vehicle construction. In the absence of such standards, regulations would present serious difficulty and might hamper the development of better designs.
My right hon. Friend's Working Party on the Motor Vehicles (Construction and Use) Regulations, in which the manufacturers take part, will study the problem in the light of progress in developing such standards.