Many boys grow up fantasizing about the perfect car and the thrill of driving it. And while many boys’ passion for cars goes no further than reading reviews and keeping up with the news, the situation in the United Arab Emirates seems to be rather different where the demand for sometimes dangerous car tuning has increased by 15 percent according to industry sources.
In order to address the issue and contain an alarming ticking-bomb situation, Farah Al Zarooni, director of Standards Department, Emirates Authority for Standardization and Metrology (ESMA) announced the Draft Project of UAE Technical Regulations for Vehicle Modifications. The new law specifies the type of modifications allowed and demands that the car owners issue certain permission for certain alterations run on the engines, exhausts, suspension systems and transmission or gear boxes. It is expected to begin to be enforced in 2015.
According to Ahmad Bahrozyan, executive director of the RTA Licensing Agency, “Speeding is the most attractive part of modifications for youngsters. Obviously the most dangerous modifications are the ones done to the engines and the critical components of the vehicle. But even exterior modifications have safety implications – for example, what is the material being used? How strong is the material in case of accident?” That’s why most of the car modifications requested are for extra horse power and loud exhausts.
Alarmingly, this rising demand for car tuning and modifications is not met with a sufficient rise in education and awareness on the matter. Mohamed Sheta, automotive & road safety expert, believes that one reason behind this lack of awareness is the numerous automotive TV and radio shows, as well as all the magazines and newspaper supplements which are presented by inexperienced presenters who don’t highlight safety measures and precautions.
As the market demand for car tuning rises, so does the number of garages which strive to meet the demand. A majority of those garages are underground garages with no proper licensing for the job.
“In future, with very few garages that are allowed to do modifications under very strict conditions with trained technicians, I expect the car modifications business to become much more expensive than it is today – which means you will price out a lot of people who are currently undergoing modifications at cheap rates,” added Bahrozyan bringing attention to the very high fines those who break this law will have to face.