Vehicle type approval

In Europe, motor vehicles that are permitted on the roads must meet the type approval requirements. The more than 150 technical regulations not only relate to systems and components for active and passive safety, but also to environmentally-relevant regulations for the protection of all road users. As part of the type approval, compliance with all of the required provisions in accordance with the EU’s regulation on type approval must be proven and verified by an independent technical service appointed by a national type approval authority and confirmed by an expert.

This not least relates to the sound level of vehicles. While the sound level for moving vehicles has been defined in internationally harmonised regulations, these do not apply for stationary vehicles. The TÜV Association therefore calls for binding limits also for vehicles that are stationary in a position paper.

The type approval procedure is continuously being developed all across the EU – also in a constructive exchange with the TÜV Association and its members. The common goal is to make the type approval process efficient and to ensure that all vehicles placed on the market comply with the legal and normative requirements. New regulations increase the efficiency of the type approval procedure, for example, as well as the market surveillance, which is in turn conducive to road safety and environmental protection. It also strengthens the effectiveness of the European internal market for vehicles.

New technology, new tasks

The technological advances and digitalisation mean that motor vehicles and their functions can also change over the course of their service life. The current processes for registration, type approval and periodic monitoring must in future therefore also ensure that these changes are not detrimental to road safety and the environment continues to be protected. New and efficient mechanisms need to be developed to detect, check and approve changes to products during their service life. One challenge here is the adaptation of type approval and the periodic technical monitoring increasingly associated with automated and networked motor vehicles.

The TÜV Association and its members are involved in discussions with the relevant regulatory and political bodies on the German and European levels.