Euro NCAP makes big changes to crash tests
New tests aim to reduce disparities in the severity of impacts between large and small cars
CRASH SAFETY BODY Euro NCAP has introduced a series of new tests for vehicles scheduled for assessment in 2020. The alterations are designed to “address longstanding needs in occupant protection, to improve post-crash protection and promote the latest advanced driver assistance technology”, the organisation says.
The most significant change is to the offset head-on collision test, which hasn’t changed in 23 years. Now, instead of crashing into a static barrier, test vehicles will strike a moving barrier, with the impact on both vehicle and barrier being analysed.
The aim of this change is to encourage makers of larger vehicles to better consider how they perform in impacts with smaller cars, in order to spread the forces more evenly.
“Historically, SUVS and other big cars have offered very good protection to their occupants, but the smaller vehicles they sometimes crash into can fare less well,” said Matthew Avery, a Euro NCAP board member and director of research at Thatcham Research. “In the new compatibility test, if the larger vehicle is too stiff in an impact scenario, it will be penalised accordingly. This levels the playing field for vehicles of all sizes, and that’s a win-win for road safety.”
Side impact crashes have the second-highest rate of death or serious injuries among car occupants, so this test has also been improved. The speed of the impact is being increased and new measurements are being introduced to assess how severe the impact is on both the driver and the front seat passenger, rather than just the passenger.
Automatic emergency braking systems will be assessed in greater detail, too. Specifically, the effectiveness of systems that can react to avoid a collision when joining traffic from side junctions, or when reversing into the flow of traffic or pedestrians, will be rated specifically as part of a car’s overall safety score.
Driver attention monitoring systems that alert drivers if their eyes wander from the road ahead excessively will also be assessed.
As well as introducing ratings for the quality of the rescue information that car makers provide to the emergency services, Euro NCAP has launched the Euro Rescue app, which provides vital vehicle structure and safety system information for first responders to help get injured people out of vehicles more quickly.
26 August 2020