There are standards, and there are stories.

Many European countries require motorists to be prepared for emergencies. A warning triangle, a warning vest, and a first aid kit should be in every car. In more and more countries of the EU, such equipment is already mandatory.  Experts predict that the equipment will soon be required by law in all EU member states. And this being the EU, the equipment will be standardized.

The standard of choice for a first aid kit is DIN 13164B. This standard defines in great detail the content of a first aid kit. German law currently requires every car to be equipped with a first aid kit that complies with DIN 13164B.

But it turns out that many kits in cars currently on the road are illegal.

 A DIN 13164B compliant first aid kit was one of the first products of Sinamotive. Ín the course of product development, we noticed that there are many kits on the market, and in cars, which are not DIN compliant at all.  Their packaging says DIN 13164B. But the content is not.

In our research, it was revealed that many manufacturers simply copied the content list of other manufacturers, who do not have a DIN 13164B compliant product – probably without even realizing it. A search in Google  reveals several manufacturers who proudly list the content of their kits and claim compliance with the DIN standard. And often it is a content that is utterly wrong. Also, several products in a DIN 13164B  compliant kit must be sterile. When expired, they are not regarded as sterile anymore, and are considered illegal.  Motorists are being fined in Germany for carrying First Aid Kits with expired product. A car with one of these kits on board is illegal on German roads.

The text of the DIN norm can be purchased for €  31.10 at http://www2.din.de For no money at all, a good article on DIN 13164B  can be found on Wikipedia . A manufacturer in China, where most of these kits are manufactured, told us of his dilemma: “Access to Wikipedia is blocked in China. So I relied on Google. And what I found on Google turned out wrong.”

Sinamotive manufactures first aid kits in China which are fully DIN 13164B compliant. The kit content is CE marked, carries the date of manufacture, and the expiration date.  The content in Sinamotive’s kit is marked sterile as required, and the procedure used to make the product sterile is noted. We even disinfect the shipping containers we use for ocean transport!