Belzebutt

I noticed this new Honda ad, it would very well be running in the US. It shows a NA Accord doing a crash test, and it says "most companies test their cars to protect the people inside the car". Then they show the accord smashing into a pedestrian dummy. "But what kind of company tests cars to better protect the people outside?".

I kind of laughed at this because I know that in Europe they're coming out with new regulations for pedestrian crash tests, so all companies will need to do these tests, not just Honda. That's advertising for you.

What kind of caught my attention though is that it's an NA Accord they were using, so I wonder if they have these standards in Japan as well, because AFAIK there's no such thing in the US. Is Honda just using a familiar looking car even though this car isn't being tested, is it testing ALL its cars out of the goodness of their hearts, or are there standards somewhere that force them to do this to the Inspire/NA Accord?

By the way I remember reading a C&D article where where talking about these tests (complaining about the new regulations as usual), and they mentioned the TSX as an example of a car that would most likely meet these new regulations as is.

Ken1997TL

Its an effort Honda is making worldwide.

Keep in mind that the NA Accord is used in more markets than you'd think, such as SE Asia, in Japan as the Inspire and other countries (Australia and NZ I think)

CGTSX2004

iTrader: (1)

Honda has a print ad to the same effect. Essentially, Honda is trying to make a lot of things, like side impact airbags, ABS, and the new ACE body structure standard across their entire line-up at nearly all trim levels.