This paper summarizes the new orientations of the French Government for road safety improvement in relation to vehicle safety. It briefly describes the vehicle safety aspects in the French programs of Research and Development in Transport (PREDIT) and confirms the support of France to pre-regulatory research for vehicle safety improvement at the European level (EEVC) and through IHRA. Considering the needs to continue international cooperations, the paper concludes with proposals to go further in the area of vehicle safety.