Pedestrian protection slated
Euro NCAP
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VEHICLE manufacturers are failing to make 'clear progress' in reducing the likelihood of pedestrians suffering serious injury if they are involved in a collision with a car, according to the European New Car Assessment Programme...
As the safety-focused organisation released its latest results for seven cars, the Ford Kuga, Hyundai i10 and SEAT Ibiza each achieved three stars for pedestrian protection.
Cars that perform well in pedestrian protection tests receive four stars, but the Audi A4, Citroen Berlingo and Skoda Superb each notched only two stars, while the Volkswagen T5 Caravelle was given a single star. This is despite the European Commission working to introduce new legislation that will force vehicle manufacturers to make models more 'pedestrian friendly'.
The pedestrian protection ratings are in stark contrast to those for child protection where all seven cars received four out of five stars and adult occupant protection in which the A4, Kuga, Ibiza and Superb all achieved top five-star ratings, while the Berlingo, i10 and T5 notched four stars each.
However, Euro NCAP remains disappointed that no carmaker has yet achieved the top five star rating for child occupant protection.
Secretary general Michiel van Ratingen, said: "I am happy to see all of the cars in this round of testing have performed well in child occupant protection. Children deserve to be as well protected as adults but safety development in this area has not moved on as much as it should have done."
Small car buyers 'short changed' over whiplash prevention
Manufacturer seat design to stop whiplash injuries is improving - but drivers of small city cars are being short-changed in the safety stakes, according to Thatcham, The Motor Insurance Repair Research Centre...
Meanwhile Audi, Saab and Volvo have each achieved 'good' ratings across their model ranges for their safe seat design.
Whiplash is the most common injury in car crashes and Thatcham's 2008 vehicle head restraint ratings show an overall improvement in seat and head restraint design by vehicle manufacturers.
Thatcham says the figures show that manufacturers are taking the prevention of whiplash injuries seriously, with around 75% of all new seats achieving a 'good' or 'acceptable' rating.
However, the organisation warns that the fast-growing city car sector still has too few models available with seats able to protect their occupants from injury in a 10 mph crash. In fact no cars in the segment achieved a 'good' rating despite many being new models.
Protection
Thatcham said: "These cars need the best protection because they are smaller and lighter and more susceptible to high forces in a rear-end crash. City cars are not equipped to protect their occupants' necks when they have to absorb the crash energy from larger, heavier vehicles."
Only two city cars achieved an 'acceptable' rating - the Renault Twingo and the Smart Fortwo - nine city cars received a 'marginal' rating including the Fiat 500, the 2008 European Car of the Year, while the Ford Ka and Fiat Panda were given 'poor' ratings.
Thatcham research manager - crash Matthew Avery said: "Good seat design is not something that should be inherently linked to higher value cars and this latest set of results will hopefully act as a catalyst for vehicle manufacturers to look at improving seat and head restraints design within this important and growing sector."
The Thatcham tests also showed that whiplash protection was little better in the supermini class, with two-thirds of models rated 'poor' or 'marginal'. Renault led the way with the Clio and Modus seats each rated as 'good'. Almost a third of seats in MPV models also received a 'poor' rating.
The full whiplash ratings are available at www.thatcham.org/ncwr
Euro NCAP Results (only vehicles tested since 2006)
For previous test results visit www.euroncap.com
