How NCAP’s leading the digital safety charge
Reborn hatch punches above its weight in tougher, techier tests. By James Taylor
ACAR’S CRASH TEST performance is a matter of life and death, which safety body Euro NCAP has spent more than two decades assessing in its ever-evolving mission to raise standards. Its focus is increasingly turning to active safety: driver assistance technologies that aim to avoid a crash in the first place. New tests introduced for 2018 assess automated emergency braking systems, pedestrian and cyclist detection and lane-keeping devices.
The current Ford Focus is the biggest-selling UK car so far subjected to these 2018 regs. Euro NCAP’s secretary general Michiel van Ratingen notes: ‘The Focus delivers a very balanced package of driver assistance technologies, with the capability to make journeys safer, while also ensuring the driver needs to remain alert and ready to take appropriate action in an emergency.’ The Focus scored a five-star rating – here’s how.