Report: Vehicles sold in Brazil lack safety features

Automakers are having widespread success selling vehicles in Brazil, but thousands of Brazilians are dying each year in auto accidents that experts blame on a combination of unsafe vehicles and often dangerous driving conditions, according to an Associated Press report.

Many vehicles sold in Brazil have inferior craftsmanship and substandard materials, according to the article. An engineer for a major U.S. automaker interviewed for the article claimed that his company failed to implement more advanced safety features in cars sold in Brazil because they were not required. The engineer spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of being fired, according to the article.

Automakers told the AP that they're adhering to Brazil's laws, and in some cases going beyond what regulators require.

But satisfying Brazil's safety regulations is easier than meeting such standards of other countries, according to the article. Brazil, for instance, will begin requiring frontal airbags and antilock brakes on all cars next year, features that most developed nations already require, according to the report.

In safety testing by an independent pilot effort, the Latin New Car Assessment Program, the cheapest models of four of the top five selling cars in Brazil received one of five stars, according to the article. That means that the vehicles provide little protection in serious head-on collisions compared with cars that receive four- or five-star ratings, nearly the minimum that U.S. and European consumers buy, according to the article.

According to the report, 9,059 occupants died in car crashes in Brazil in 2010.

"That same year, 12,435 people in the U.S. were killed in car crashes, though the U.S. passenger car fleet is five times larger than Brazil's," the AP report said. "The result: Brazilian automobile crash victims died at four times the rate as those in the U.S."

For the entire report, click here.