Euro NCAP (that stands for New Car Assessment Programme) is an organisation that was established to provide independent safety ratings for new cars that go on sale in Europe. Manufacturers don’t have to put their cars through NCAP’s rigorous testing procedure by law, but given the fact that practically every new mainstream car that goes on sale is tested (and that buyers really care about that all-important star rating), it’d look a bit odd if the decision was made not to test a new car.
Anyway, Euro NCAP’s tests are broken down to assess four different areas of a car’s overall safety rating. These are: adult occupant protection, child occupant protection, pedestrian or vulnerable road user protection, and safety assistance systems.
The adult occupant protection score (that’s for the driver and any adult passengers) is determined by subjecting a car to frontal and lateral impact tests, as well as whiplash tests, to see just how well the car will cocoon them in such incidents. Any measures in place that help to facilitate quick rescue and removal from the vehicle are also taken into account here.
A car’s child occupant protection rating takes three things into account: the level of protection offered by the child restraint systems in front- and side-on impacts; the car’s ability to fit in a wide range of child restraint systems of different shapes and sizes; and whether or not there are sufficient provisions in place that allow for the safe transport of children. These include things like ISOFIX points, and a front-seat passenger airbag disabling system that’s clearly labelled and easy to use.
Vulnerable road user safety tests look at how well a car will protect pedestrians in the off chance that the two collide. Impact tests are carried out on the head, upper leg, and lower legs of a special crash test dummy to assess the risk of injury. A car’s automatic emergency braking systems are also taken into account, with cars being awarded bonus points if these systems can detect pedestrians and cyclists.
Finally, the safety assist score is worked out by looking at whether or not a car is equipped with what Euro NCAP calls “the most important driver assist technologies that support safe driving to avoid and mitigate accidents”. Systems such as lane-keep assist, speed assistance, autonomous emergency braking and driver attention monitoring systems are all taken into account here. A car will often have two separate safety ratings if these systems are optional extras too, with the highest score always being awarded to the car that gets them as standard.