Changes will stop Euro NCAP ‘cherry picking’

The changes will see the current star rating system for adult occupant protection, pedestrian safety and child occupant protection scrapped in favour of a single five-star rating covering a wide range of factors.

Further information will still be available on crash performance in each area for car buyers who want to know more, but it will not be graded by stars.

Grading

Details of how the grading system will work are still being worked out, but it will also include an additional way of recognising vehicles where a manufacturer has gone to particularly lengths to fit additional safety equipment, such as ESP, more commonly known as anti-skid control. Once the new system is finalised, it will be revealed in August to give buyers time to understand it before the first cars are tested under the new star rating in 2009.

The grading will not be retrospective and will only apply to new car tests from the launch date.

Cordelia Wilson, communications manager for Euro NCAP, said: “Currently manufacturers can talk about their five-star passenger rating and ignore a low score for pedestrian safety.

“We are now putting all the scores into one basket, so there will be an overall five-star rating.

“Manufacturers will have to promote their overall score, but consumers will still be able to see details of how vehicles performed in each test to help them choose their next vehicle.

“We are also looking at highlighting the use of new technology and safety features, but the standard five-star system remains, because it is something that people relate to and understand.”

The change follows a series of poor results for manufacturers in pedestrian safety tests, which has brought intense criticism.

Disappointed

Last year, Euro NCAP chairman Claes Tingvall, said: “I am continually disappointed by the lack of commitment and effort shown by manufacturers to improving the level of pedestrian protection in their vehicles. This is an area where there are few front-runners and massive room for improvement.”

The point was hammered home when the Volvo C30 scored five-stars for occupant protection, but only one star for pedestrian protection last year.

The Chrysler Voyager, which scored just two stars for occupant protection, with one struck through to indicate an ‘unacceptably high risk of serious or fatal injury’, scored no stars for pedestrian protection.

All-new Laguna makes a stunning score

Its predecessor was the first vehicle to achieve a five-star rating in the passive safety assessment tests and now its replacement, launched late last year, has notched the same maximum five-star rating with one of the highest scores ever recorded in the tests.

The Laguna’s performance – the car also scored four stars for child occupant protection and two stars for pedestrian safety – means that a total of nine models from the French manufacturer have scored the top five stars for occupant protection.

 

New tests reveal safety shortfalls for double-cabs

The Nissan Navara, Isuzu Rodeo and the Mitsubishi L200 were the first pick-ups put through Euro NCAP’s stringent crash tests.

The results, published earlier this year, reveal that the safety of vehicles in this category is not a high priority for some carmakers, the organisation claims.

Pick-ups have traditionally been bought and used for commercial purposes. In recent years, demand for this kind of vehicle has been rising as more people use them for leisure or even as company cars.

In 2007, registrations rose in Europe by 7.2% compared to 2006 and in the new European Union member states this increase was even greater, at 24.7%.

Euro NCAP has also noted a trend where manufacturers are upping the level of options and trims available on pick-ups in order to target consumers who may use such cars as family transport, rather than as commercial vehicles, driven by tax incentives in some countries.

In the UK, the Government acted to remove this incentive last year by imposing a massive increase in benefit-in-kind tax on drivers of commercial vehicles who had significant private mileage.

Dr Michiel van Ratingen, secretary general of Euro NCAP, said: “Euro NCAP must act as a guardian of car safety for consumers – testing these vehicles becomes imperative when we realise they are no longer simply being used for the carriage of goods.

Manufacturers must realise we will test all cars that could have an impact on the safety of European consumers.”

Both the Nissan Navara and the Isuzu Rodeo received poor scores in Euro NCAP’s adult occupant rating.

The Navara achieved an extremely poor rating of a one star strikethrough because of a delay in the deployment of its airbag. Nissan introduced a counter-measure and asked for the test to be carried out again. This time the Navara scored three stars for front and side impact, two stars for pedestrian safety and four stars for child protection.

Dr van Ratingen said: “Nissan has acted responsibly and promptly in response to our findings. Euro NCAP hopes that by releasing this new result, it will speed up the service campaign and ensure that all Navaras are upgraded to the higher safety specification.”

The best of all the pick-ups tested by Euro NCAP was the Mitsubishi L200, which received a respectable four-star result in adult occupant protection.

All the vehicles received low pedestrian protection scores.

Euro NCAP Results (only vehicles tested since 2005)

For previous test results visit www.euroncap.com

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