Re: difference between TUV and ABE (long)

[hschnei@ibm.net (Hans J. Schneider)]

>From: "Anthony K.B. Chan" <chan@seattleu.edu>
>Date: Fri, 9 Feb 1996 07:25:20 -0800 (PST)
>Subject: What is the difference between TUV and ABE certification?

>Can someone tell me the differences between the German TUV and ABE 
>certification? I just got a catalog from Rial wheels of America, 
>some of their wheels are TUV certified and some of them are ABE 
>certified. In the catalog there are some brief explanation of what 
>TUV means and ABE means. They didn't really point out which is a 
>higher standard of certification. I thought I read about something
 >in European Car Magazine which said ABE is a higher certification 
>standard than TUV. Can someone confirm it for me? By the way Rial 
>is a German company.  

This get's a little complicated. Normally every car made in germany
has a ABE. ABE means " Allgemeine Betriebs Erlaubnis". Sorry I don't 
have a good english translation for it ,but basically it means
" general operating licence ". For example my Audi 200 Quattro has 
the ABE number D403. The ABE number is given to the car manufacturer 
by the "Kraftfahrtbundesamt" which is the german equivalent of the 
US DOT. The Kraftfahrtbundesamt issues a ABE number after inspecting
the car and confirming that this type of car is designed according 
to the national laws and standards. This procedure will be done for
each modell of a car. For example the Audi 100 Quattro and the Audi
200 Quattro both have the same ABE number but the none Quattro Audi 
100/200 have a different ABE number. 
The whole deal with the ABE number is that the car with all options
from the manufacturer is approved and the car owner is not allowed
to do any changes to the car in respect of safety. 
Allmost all modifications to the car by the owner have to be 
inspected and certified , otherwise the car owner will drive a 
illegal car and loose the insurance on the car etc.

Now there are three ways to get those modifications certified:

1. the manufacturer of the aftermarket part (Rial wheels for example)
get's a certification for a certain type of wheel for a specific car 
from the Kraftfahrtbundesamt. The Kraftfahrtbundesamt will hire a 
company ( for example the TUV ) to test the wheel and issue a ABE for
that type of wheel for a certain type of car. 
This is very expensive and normally only done for high volume parts.
The buyer of such a wheel will get an official ABE paper together with
the wheel and has to carry that ABE paper with his car all the time.

2. the manufacturer of the aftermarket part (Rial wheels for example)
get's a certification for a certain type of wheel for a specific car 
from the TUV. TUV stands for "Technischer Ueberwachungsverein" and 
is NOT a govermental institution. The TUV will test the wheel and 
issue a TUV approval for that type of wheel for a certain type of car. 
This is less expensive and the standard procedure for aftermarket 
parts.The buyer of such a wheel will get an official TUV paper 
together with the wheel. Next the buyer has to mount the wheels,
drive to the TUV or another authorized organization and present the 
car with the rims and the TUV approval paper. The TUV will then check 
everything out and include the new size of wheels in the offical car 
documents every driver allways has to carry with him.
This is the main difference to an aftermarket part which has an 
ABE paper.

3. the manufacturer of the aftermarket part has no approval or 
certification whatsoever. This means in germany the car owner has 
to take care about the approval by himself and this is allmost 
impossible. 


Summary: In my opinion there is no quality difference between a 
TUV approval and an ABE certification unless there have been
major changes in the procedure because of new EC laws I'm not
aware off.


Anyway , there are some more issues involved which might not be of 
interest to anybody on the list. For any further questions , please
contact me via privat email.
*****************************************
      Hans-Juergen Schneider
      Internet: hschnei@ibm.net
      Germany , 200 Quattro
*****************************************