Hyundai Motor Company and Kia Namyang Research Center Obtain Government Certification for 'Excellent Safety Research Laboratory'

Hyundai Motor Company and Kia have obtained government-certified safety certifications for their major core research facilities.

Hyundai Motor Company and Kia announced on the 16th that five laboratories within the Namyang Research Center located in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province, newly acquired safety certifications in the 'Excellent Safety Management Laboratory Certification' evaluation hosted by the Ministry of Science and ICT.

The newly certified laboratories include three eco-friendly commercial vehicle research labs (Commercial Chassis Dynamometer Room, Commercial Environmental Wind Tunnel Room, Commercial Environmental Test Workshop Room) and two basic materials research centers (Corrosion Test Room, Coating Adhesion Test Room), totaling five locations. With this, the number of Hyundai Motor Company and Kia laboratories certified for safety management by the government has increased to seven. Earlier this year, Hyundai Motor Company and Kia obtained certifications for two laboratories at the Namyang Research Center: the Polymer Materials Analysis Room and the Metal Component Analysis Room.

The Excellent Safety Management Laboratory Certification system is a program by the Ministry of Science and ICT to strengthen the autonomous safety management capabilities of domestic science and technology research laboratories and to discover and spread safety management standard models by awarding certifications to laboratories with excellent safety management levels and activities. To receive certification, laboratories must score over 80% in each of the three areas: ▲Safety Environment System (30 points) ▲Safety Environment Activity Level (50 points) ▲Safety Awareness of Safety Management Personnel (20 points). The certification is valid for two years, after which a re-certification process is required.

The eco-friendly commercial vehicle research facilities that obtained certification this time are places where electric buses, hydrogen electric trucks, and other vehicles are researched and tested. Various convergent research equipment for large commercial vehicle driving environment tests are installed. In particular, from the perspective of securing safety management, they are equipped with various safety facilities such as explosion-proof equipment, an in-house fire extinguishing process, and safety accident prevention systems.

The basic materials research center facilities develop and verify new body materials. They are equipped with a special reagent cabinet capable of safely storing over 100 types of chemicals, as well as a system that can frequently process waste reagents generated from numerous analytical instruments.

Hyundai Motor Company and Kia are not satisfied with this safety certification acquisition and aim to establish a stricter safety management system so that more laboratories can obtain safety certifications. They plan to apply customized safety management systems specialized for each sector in next-generation new technology research processes such as batteries, hydrogen fuel cells, and electrification.

On this day, Hyundai Motor Company and Kia held an 'Excellent Safety Management Laboratory Certification Plaque Ceremony' at the Namyang Research Center, attended by key officials including Kim Yong-hwa, CTO (President), Martin Zeilinger, Vice President in charge of Commercial LCM, Hong Seung-hyun, Executive Director of the Basic Materials Research Center, and Cho Tae-hyun, Director of the Research and Development Safety Environment Office.

President Kim said, "Through this certification, we can confirm not only the excellent safety systems of Hyundai Motor Company and Kia research facilities but also the outstanding safety management efforts of the researchers," adding, "We will continue to strengthen the safety management capabilities of research centers and lead the establishment of an autonomous safety culture."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.