Crash-test dummies
Car makers ‘use suspicious parts’ on vehicles having official safety checks
CAR makers were embroiled in another cheating controversy today after investigators said ‘very suspicious’ parts had been found during crash safety tests.
Testers responsible for car safety in the UK say they have found parts marked ‘for crashtest only’ when examining family vehicles they are due to grade.
It has raised fears – vigorously denied by motor industry bosses – that cars may have been fitted with parts specifically designed to help cheat crash tests.
Both Euro NCAP, which sets test criteria, and Thatcham Research, which carries out crash-tests in the UK, found airbags and child seat fixing points marked ‘ for crash-test only’ after safety assessments, motoring magazine Auto Express revealed today. Crashtesting reports and star ratings heavily influence consumer sales.
The findings were confirmed by Euro NCAP, which said it had ‘come across parts, airbags, seat foams, etc, which have unusual or suspicious labelling’.
All mass-production cars sold in the EU are crashed following set procedures during NCAP testing.
After these tests, researchers from organisations such as Thatcham conduct a ‘ strip- down audit’, which involves inspecting individual components.
It was during these audits that researchers from Thatcham and NCAP found marked parts. Matthew Avery, head of research for Thatcham, said such markings have been found on cars from ‘several’ makers but declined to name any. ‘Sometimes we’ve tested a vehicle and we will see on the back of a module it says “Euro NCAP test”,’ he said. ‘That feels very, very suspicious to us. There are lots of excuses. We’re told, “Well no, that’s a genuine component, that’s an early version”, whatever.
‘They’re not stamping it, they’re writing it in marker pen; it’s marked crudely. Alarm bells ring when we see that.’
But Mr Avery added: ‘I’m sure 99 times out of 100 there’s a legitimate reason.’
He suggested nervousness following the VW diesel emissions scandal may be behind the declining frequency of marked parts.
EuroNCAP has also interrogated companies after finding these markings. But a spokesman told Auto Express its audits had ‘never shown a deliberate attempt to “cheat” our tests’. The ‘suspiciously’ marked parts had ceased to appear in ‘the last year or two’ following a crackdown, he added.
Auto Express editor Steve Fowler said: ‘In a post-dieselgate world, any suspicion that a car manufacturer is cheating or trying to game a test is worrying. There is no absolute proof, but there are questions that need answering.’
Mike Hawes, chief executive of the Society of Motor Manufacturers, said marked parts are a normal part of the production process.
‘SMMT strongly refutes these suggestions,’ he said. ‘There is no evidence of any malpractice in safety testing and to imply otherwise shows a failure to understand the manufacturing and certification process. Such remarks cast unwarranted aspersions on the automotive industry, for which safety is the number one priority.’
He added: ‘Because this [safety testing] sometimes happens before full production begins, it can be necessary to identify certain safetycritical components in order to confirm they are the latest, approved specification parts, as well as for tracking and analysis.’
‘Alarm bells ring when we see that’