Euro NCAP strikes again

Newswheel staff :: 31 October 2005 :: Filed under Europe & UK, Safety

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Three more models under the kosh

The Euro NCAP assessment programme has totalled another fleet of cars in the name of safety. This time round, several Daihatsu Sirions, Fiat Cromas and Toyota Yarises have been trashed. Like most current models, the cars performed well in terms of adult passenger safety, slightly less impressively for child occupant safety and downright poorly for pedestrian safety.

For the record, the scoring went as follows:

Euro NCAP’s crash tests currently include three standard and one optional assessment. The first is a classic offset frontal impact into a deformable barrier. NCAP’s version of this test is carried out at 40mph, 5mph faster than the statutory EU frontal test. Next up is a side impact assessment in which a deformable barrier is towed into the into the passenger compartment at 30mph. The Pedestrian impact test, meanwhile, involves a series of 25mph impacts with crash dummies. Finally, NCAP’s toughest trial is the optional pole test. The subject car is propelled sideways at 18mph into a rigid metal pole. That may not sound like much, but thanks to a relatively narrow 254mm width, the pole penetrates massively into the cabin of most cars. NCAP suggests that in cars without side airbags, the result of such an impact is often a fatal head injury.

Pole-head interface protection. Thank goodness for airbags.

Newswheel fascinating (and rather freaky but only slightly tangental) factoid:
Renault made the news in April 1998 following the revelation that the French firm had used the bodies of dead children when assessing the crashworthiness of models including the Clio, Megane and Espace.

Linkage:
Euro NCAP