THE EUROPEAN NEW Car Assessment Programme (Euro NCAP) has released its crash test scores for its latest round of testing.
The cars tested were the MINI Countryman, Skoda Kodiaq, the new Nissan Micra and the Suzuki Swift.
All four cars reached the five star levels for adult occupant protection, child protection and pedestrian protection. The Skoda scored the highest adult protection rating at 92 per cent, the MINI scored the highest child occupant rating with 80 per cent, and the Nissan Micra with safety pack scored the highest pedestrian safety rating with 79 per cent.
Both the Skoda Kodiaq and MINI Countryman scored a full five stars for safety, which means: “Overall good performance in crash protection. Well equipped with robust crash avoidance technology” according to the Euro NCAP website.
The Skoda performed well partly because it is equipped as standard with an AEB system that detects pedestrians as well as other cars. The MINI also has AEB car-to-car as standard which helped with the safety assist score.
The Nissan Micra also scored a five star safety rating but only with the optional safety pack which includes AEB pedestrian and lane assistance. Tested with just the standard safety equipment the car scored four stars for overall safety.
The car without the safety pack scored 68 per cent for passenger safety and 49 per cent for safety assist but with the optional safety pack these figures rose to 79 per cent and 72 per cent respectively.
By testing cars with and without safety packs it is hoped that consumers will “understand the benefit of additional equipment expressed in extra stars.”
The Suzuki Swift is rated as three stars as standard and four stars with the optional safety equipment. The Swift doesn’t have AEB pedestrian safety but does come with AEB car-to-car in its ‘Radar Brake Support’ option pack. With this pack the car scores 69 per cent for pedestrian safety and 44 per cent for safety assist but the safety assist score drops to 25 per cent without the safety pack.
Speaking about these latest result, Euro NCAP Secretary General, Michiel van Ratingen, said:
Euro NCAP started rewarding AEB pedestrian systems last year and we have seen a rapid uptake of the technology. We hope to see as fast an adoption of AEB systems that detect cyclists when tests of those systems form part of the rating next year. For twenty years, Euro NCAP has been pushing manufacturers to fit new and better safety technologies: originally, such things as airbags and pre-tensioners and, nowadays, advanced driver assistance systems that will form the building blocks for the automated vehicles of tomorrow.
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