This paper presents Japan's approach for car-to-truck compatibility in head-on collisions. Front Underrun Protection Devices (FUPDs) regulated by ECE-R93 are effective in preventing car underrun in head-on collisions with trucks. The Japan Automobile Research Institute (JARI) has studied accident analyses and crash tests involving FUPDs at the request of MLIT and the Japanese Automotive Manufacturers Association (JAMA). It is predicted that passenger car driver fatalities can be decreased by about 45% (36 people/year) by equipping heavy trucks with FUPDs.

In 2002, meetings to formulate the FUPD regulation were initiated, with members of the government (MLIT), industries (JAMA, JABIA), and institutes (JARI). One agenda item for the meeting was whether to admit cement-mixers and tipper trucks as an application exclusions. The off-road driving performance of cement-mixers and tipper trucks would decrease if they were equipped with FUPDs provided under ECE-R93. However, it is necessary to equip tipper trucks with FUPDs since the trucks are often driven on urban roads.

As a result of these discussions, we have eased the FUPD height for tipper trucks from 400 to 450mm, the height at which the height at which minimum off-road driving performance is united with a decrease in aggressiveness. Even with an FUPD height of 450mm, car driver fatalities can be reduced by 28%. The regulations for FUPDs was introduced into Japan in January, 2007.