Latin America is a rapidly growing automobile market and source of vehicle production. It is also experiencing high levels of road fatalities and serious injuries. Latin NCAP is the first independent programme to be established in one of the world’s newly motorizing regions and is a historic step forward in the availability of consumer crash test information. The FIA (Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile), FIA Foundation, ICRT (International Consumer Research and Testing) and GRMF (the Gonzalo Rodriguez Memorial Foundation) with support of the IDB (the Inter-American Development Bank), have joined forces in setting up Latin NCAP. The programme is expected to contribute to the UN Decade of Action for Road Safety 2011-2020 which could save five million lives on the world’s roads if successfully implemented.