What needs to be done

What car manufacturers can do

• Provide relevant rescue information for each airbag-equipped vehicle model at least in English on a standardised A4 rescue sheet (following the German template)
• On this rescue sheet, indicate the recommended cutting points to facilitate cutting high-strength steel structures and prevent cutting into airbag gas generators
• Indicate the purchase points in which to place hydraulic rams etc. for spreading footwells
• Make the model-specific rescue sheet available on the Internet and/or through their authorised dealers
• Deliver new vehicles with the rescue sheet in place behind the driver's sun visor

What the political decision-makers can do

• Define harmonised standards for rescue technology and rescue tactics
• Require car manufacturers to make model-specific rescue sheets available in a central database where, in an emergency, rescue control centres from all over Europe can download the specific sheets for any type of vehicle and send them to the rescuers on-site
• Require fire and rescue services to check their technical equipment and upgrade their hardware if it does not comply with the state of the art
• Require rescue control centres to have an IT infrastructure adequate for electronic data transmission.

About Fia Foundation

The FIA Foundation is an independent UK registered charity which manages and supports an international programme of activities promoting road safety, environmental protection and sustainable mobility, as well as funding specialist motor sport safety research.

The FIA Foundation was established in 2001 with a donation of $300 million made by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), the non-profit federation of motoring organisations and the governing body of world motor sport.

The FIA Foundation is an NGO in Roster Consultative Status with the Economic & Social Council of the United Nations and a regular participant in the Working Party on Traffic Safety and the World Forum on Harmonisation of Vehicle Standards at the UN Economic Commission for Europe, and is a leading participant in the UN Global Road Safety Collaboration. The Foundation works with a range of international agencies including the World Health Organisation (WHO), the World Bank and the UN Environment Programme on road safety and environmental issues.