Impact Assessment of Latin NCAP on the safety performance of cars in Latin America

Abstract

This master thesis dissertation was structured in a manner that can be clearly distinguished 2 main parts: a more theoretical part (Chapter 1 to 6) and a more practical/analytical part (Chapters 6 to 8). The more theoretical part of the thesis is composed of the introduction, the literature review and methodology proposed for the data analysis. The introduction contains the general framework of this research like the objectives, research question and assumptions for the analysis, besides the background of the problem. The literature review covers three relevant sub-topics: the role of safe vehicles to achieve road safety improvement, the situation of Latin America regarding road safety and the problem of unsafe vehicles in this region, and finally the creation of Latin NCAP, the work they have been conducting since 2010 and the estimations of the safety score/ratings. Posterior to this theoretical part of the thesis there is a chapter describing in detail the methodology adopted for the data collection, data processing and the post-processing of the results for their correct interpretation. The second part of this thesis is focused on the more analytical part of the research based on the data collection, processing, post-processing and analysis of results. Posteriorly it will take place a discussion about the results of the research and what implications could be extracted from them. The final part of thesis (chapters 9 and 10) are dedicated to the conclusions of the thesis and scientific-based recommendations.