Some countries have legal requirements for the minimum safety standards of vehicles. This means that all new vehicles and all vehicles that are still on the road must meet this minimum set of safety standards to be sold and driven legally.

However, a large proportion of low and middle income countries don’t have standards that meet the minimum requirements recommended by the United Nations World Forum for the harmonization of vehicle regulations (WP.29) which are:

• 14: Seat belt anchorages.
• 16: Safety belts & restraints.
• 94: Frontal collision.
• 95: Lateral collision.
• 13H (GTR 8): Electronic stability control.
• 127 (GTR 9): Pedestrian protection.
• 44/129: Child restraints.
• 78 (GTR): Motorcycle ABS.

Some countries also require that vehicles are tested by trained inspectors at regular intervals to make sure that they continue to meet these standards.

Motor vehicle standards (including (Australian Design Rules, USA Federal motor vehicle safety standards and regulations and UN Regulations) cover requirements such as:

• controls
• displays
• rear view mirrors
• the order of gear shifting
• brake systems
• headlights, brake lights, blinkers (turning signals), backing lights
• tyre standard
• tyre rim standard
• safety glass for windows
• seatbelts and anchoring them correctly
• vehicle noise
• smoke/gas emissions.