The sad, unavoidable truth of motoring is that crashes can and do happen. We can, however, arm ourselves against this by making sure we buy a safe car. This is a task made possible by time-served car-crunchers, EuroNCAP.
This year, EuroNCAP celebrates 20 years of flinging brand-new cars at walls, all to keep your face arranged in the way you’re accustomed to. How very nice of them.
Before 1997, when EuroNCAP was founded, car safety was a bit of a grey area. Certain brands had a reputation for it, like Volvo (the first company to fit three-point belts as standard) and Mercedes (ABS and driver airbags were early standard features on its cars) but other than that, it was a guessing game.
You had to go off what the dealer told you, and you had to trust them. Trust a car dealer? Eesh, what a thing to have to do.
There were no hard facts, no scores, nothing. Yes, manufacturers crash-tested their cars, but they did so behind closed doors, never making the findings public. And even though they were crash-testing, they only had to meet very basic requirements.
Basically, so long as the car didn’t burst into flames on impact, and the crash test dummy’s head was still attached, it was a thumbs up and then off to the showroom. The manufacturers held the cards. EuroNCAP changed that.
When it first started firing cars into walls, it did so on a clandestine basis. EuroNCAP bought cars from dealerships and played along with the salesmen. They had no idea the car would cover zero miles in its lifetime. By doing this, EuroNCAP was able to rule out any tampering. As such, the results would be fair.
The first cars to be tested 1997 were the Renault Clio, the Volkswagen Polo, the Rover 100, the Ford Fiesta, the Nissan Micra and the Vauxhall Corsa. Cars that were representative of what many of us were buying and driving at the time.
The results of that first crash test were, well, they were shocking. Of the four stars available, the Polo and the Fiesta were awarded three. Not bad.
The Clio, Micra and Corsa were awarded a less impressive two. The Rover 100? One star. Quite literally, ouch.
The manufacturers were up in arms. They claimed the tests were too stringent and as such, it was impossible to get the full four stars.
Five months later, Volvo – a company that has always embraced safety – sauntered in and proved them all wrong, scooping up all four stars with the S40. That was the start of the safety revolution.
From then on, the manufacturers started to look at safety as not only the important factor that it is, but also as a selling tool. The safer their cars, the more they would sell. And with EuroNCAP plucking them out of dealerships at random, they had to play ball.
The tests have remained largely the same over the last twenty years. There is a frontal offset crash, the full frontal crash and side impact. Those are the main staples.
However, roof compression tests and side impact pole tests have also been added. Over the years, EuroNCAP has wrecked approximately 1,800 cars resulting in 630 safety ratings. They are dedicated, there is no denying that.
Then there are the pedestrian tests. EuroNCAP not only wants to save the driver, it also wants the best for those of us on foot, or “all participants in traffic” to use their own words.
As such, we now see cars with bonnets that lift, with softer panels and in some cases, external airbags. You’re not only safe in a car because of EuroNCAP, you’re safe if you get clobbered by one, too.
EuroNCAP is a developing force, too. In its infancy the tests were largely based on the physical strength of the vehicle. Now, however, the score is impacted by a car’s safety tech.
That’s why all cars sold in Europe have ABS, driver and passenger airbags, side protection airbags, seatbelt reminders and electronic stability control as standard.
It’s also why new safety tech is constantly available. Cameras, automatic braking, collision warning systems, the list goes on, and it’s a list that exists because of EuroNCAP.
Those technologies are already important, too. EuroNCAP doesn’t want them to be optional, as such, top achievers of the now five star score must demonstrate that their cars are fitted as standard with technology that avoids or mitigates crashes and, where a crash is not avoidable, adequate protection is offered to car occupants and other road users.
EuroNCAP doesn’t just test cars. It has the power to set the rules for the better.
It’s estimated that EuroNCAP is directly responsible for saving more than 78,000 lives since 1997. It has made car safety the most important thing to consider. But it’s not done yet.
As long as we have cars, we’ll have EuroNCAP to fire them into walls. And with constantly evolving technology and of course, the rise of vehicle autonomy, they have lots of work still to do.