SERI KEMBANGAN, 14 August 2009 – PROTON’s latest model, the EXORA MPV was today awarded with the Malaysian Vehicle Assessment Program (MyVAP) certification scoring four out of five stars for safety assessment.
The certification was presented to PROTON today by the Director General of Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research (MIROS) Professor Dr. Ahmad Farhan Mohd. Sadullah to PROTON Holdings Berhad Managing Director, Dato’ Haji Syed Zainal Abidin Syed Mohamed Tahir. The certificate presentation ceremony was held at PROTON’s booth at the Malaysian International Road Safety Exbihition 2009 (MIREX) held at the Malaysian International Exhibition & Convention Centre in the Mines, Seri Kembangan.
PROTON is the first car manufacturer to voluntarily send its EXORA model for evaluation by MyVAP, whom had initiated the program. The MyVAP certification is an evaluation program carried out by MIROS to improve vehicle safety level in Malaysia with the objective to create and enhance awareness among local road users with regards to vehicle safety, specifically in acquiring roadworthy and crashworthy vehicles.
Commenting on the award received, PROTON Group Managing Director, Dato’ Haji Syed Zainal Abidin Syed Mohamed Tahir said “we are indeed very proud of this recognition as it serves as a testament to the safety features that we have built the MPV with. I believe the award would further enhance the confidence of the public towards the Nation’s very first home-grown MPV.”
“Our decision of voluntarily submitting this MPV for the MyVAP test goes to show the confidence that we have in the Exora and we are proud to be the first car company in Malaysia to have done it and concurrently kick-started this evaluation program. As the national car producer, we have a vital role to play in further developing the total eco-system of the automotive industry and as such our participation here in this evaluation would be one of the few ways of contributing towards the development of the industry here,” added Dato’ Syed Zainal Abidin.
“Of course we are very happy to have received such a recognition but nevertheless, we will continuously strive to improve further on our products for the consumers” Dato’ Syed Zainal Abidin concluded.
The assessment was done based on four pillars; namely the UNECE certification, Passive Safety Level, Active Safety Level and Production conformation. EXORA scored a total of 4.00 points which translates to a 4-star performance. With the findings, PROTON has learnt that the EXORA could be improved further by enhancing more safety features such as side airbags, curtain airbags and a pop-up bonnet.
