The European New Car Assessment Programme (Euro NCAP) is a
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located enti ...
an voluntary
car safety performance assessment programme (i.e. a
New Car Assessment Program) based in
Leuven
Leuven (, ) or Louvain (, , ; german: link=no, Löwen ) is the capital and largest City status in Belgium, city of the Provinces of Belgium, province of Flemish Brabant in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is located about east of Brussels. Th ...
(Belgium) formed in 1996, with the first results released in February 1997. It was originally started by the
Transport Research Laboratory for the UK
Department for Transport, but later backed by several European governments, as well as by the
European Union
The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been ...
.
Their
slogan is "For Safer Cars".
History and activities
Euro NCAP is a voluntary vehicle safety rating system created by the
Swedish Road Administration, the
Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile
The Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA; en, International Automobile Federation) is an association established on 20 June 1904 to represent the interests of motoring organisations and motor car users. It is the governing body for ...
and
International Consumer Research & Testing, backed by 14 members, and motoring & consumer organisations in several EU countries. They provide European consumers with information regarding the safety of passenger vehicles. In 1998, operations moved from London to Brussels.
It was supported by people like
Max Mosley.
The programme is modelled after the New Car Assessment Program, introduced 1979 by the US
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA ) is an agency of the U.S. federal government, part of the Department of Transportation. It describes its mission as "Save lives, prevent injuries, reduce vehicle-related crashes" rel ...
.
Other areas with similar (but not identical) programmes include Australia and New Zealand with
ANCAP, Latin America with
Latin NCAP and China with
C-NCAP.
They publish safety reports on new cars, and awards 'star ratings' based on the performance of the vehicles in a variety of crash tests, including front, side and pole impacts, and impacts with pedestrians.
Testing is not mandatory, with vehicle models either being independently chosen by Euro NCAP or sponsored by the manufacturers.
In Europe, new cars are certified as legal for sale under the
Whole Vehicle Type Approval regimen that differs from Euro NCAP. According to Euro NCAP, "The frontal and side impact crash tests used by Euro NCAP are based on those used in European legislation. However, much higher performance requirements are used by Euro NCAP. Euro NCAP also states that "Legislation sets a minimum compulsory standard whilst Euro NCAP is concerned with best possible current practice. Progress with vehicle safety legislation can be slow, particularly as all EU Member States’ views have to be taken into account. Also, once in place, legislation provides no further incentive to improve, whereas Euro NCAP provides a continuing incentive by regularly enhancing its assessment procedures to stimulate further improvements in vehicle safety."
Before Euro NCAP was introduced car buyers had little information if one car was safer than the other; in fact the UK at the time required only a frontal crash test.
The first ratings of a group of best selling vehicles were released in 1997, since then Euro NCAP has tested more than 1,800 new cars, published over 600 ratings and has helped save upwards of 78,000 lives in Europe and encouraged manufacturers to build safer cars.
The result of Euro NCAP is that over the years, European automakers' cars have become much safer. Test results are commonly presented by motor press, and in turn, greatly influence consumer demand for a vehicle. One notable example of this is the
Rover 100 (an update of a 1980 design, first marketed as an
Austin ), which after receiving a one-star Adult Occupant Rating in the tests in 1997, suffered from poor sales and was withdrawn from production soon afterwards: it was the '
What Car' car of the year, for 1980.
BMW's 2007
MINI
The Mini is a small, two-door, four-seat car, developed as ADO15, and produced by the British Motor Corporation (BMC) and its successors, from 1959 through 2000. Minus a brief hiatus, original Minis were built for four decades and sold during ...
, for example, had its bonnet and headlamp fixture changed to meet the latest pedestrian safety requirements.
In 2017, to celebrate Euro NCAP's 20th anniversary, they tested a 1997
Rover 100 and 2017
Honda Jazz under the same frontal offset conditions to demonstrate how far safety has come in Europe.
2020 test procedures
A full test can take up to 6 weeks:
Mobile progressive deformable barrier
The test car is propelled at into a moving deformable barrier mounted on an oncoming 1400 kg trolley, also travelling at 50 km/h at a 50% overlap. This represents hitting a
mid-size family car. Two adult male dummies are seated in the front (a THOR-50M driver and a Hybrid-III 50M passenger) and two child dummies (a 6 year old and a 10 year old) are placed in the back. The aim is to assess the crumple zones and the compatibility of the test car.
Full width rigid barrier
The test car is driven into a rigid barrier with full overlap at a speed of . A small 5th Percentile dummy is seated in the driving position and in the rear seat. The aim is to test the car's restraint system, such as
airbags and
seat belts.
Mobile side impact barrier
A deformable barrier is mounted on a trolley and is driven at into the side of the stationary test vehicle at a right angle. This is meant to represent another vehicle colliding with the side of a car.
Side pole
The car is propelled sideways at against a rigid, narrow pole at a small angle away from perpendicular to simulate a vehicle travelling sideways into roadside objects such as a tree or pole.
Far side impact
The
body in white (frame) of the vehicle is attached to a sled is propelled sideways to provide accelerations experienced by the vehicle in the side and pole tests, but on the far side of the vehicle. The far side testing was implemented in 2020 to help combat far side injuries (where the driver is struck from the opposite side). The ‘excursion’ of the dummy - the extent to which the dummy moves towards the impacted side of the vehicle - is measured.
If the vehicle is equipped with centre airbags then a co-driver (front passenger) is added in either the mobile side impact or the pole test to evaluate its effectiveness.
Whiplash
The vehicle seat is propelled forwards rapidly at both to test the seat and
head restraint's capabilities to protect the head and neck against
whiplash during a rear impact.
Vulnerable road users (pedestrians & cyclists)
Head Impact
Upper Leg Impact
Lower Leg Impact
AEB Pedestrian
AEB Cyclist
Safety Assist
AEB car-to-car
Occupant status monitoring
Speed assistance
Lane Support
Rescue and extrication
How easy it is for first responders to extricate the occupant and how well
eCall performs after a collision.
Ratings
Euro NCAP's ratings consist of percentage scores for Adult Occupant, Child Occupant, Vulnerable Road Users and Safety Assist and are delivered in the overall rating of stars, 5 being the best and 0 being the worst.
5 star safety: Overall excellent performance in crash protection and well equipped with comprehensive and robust crash avoidance technology
4 star safety: Overall good performance in crash protection and all round; additional crash avoidance technology may be present
3 star safety: At least average occupant protection but not always equipped with the latest crash avoidance features
2 star safety: Nominal crash protection but lacking crash avoidance technology
1 star safety: Marginal crash protection and little in the way of crash avoidance technology
0 star safety: Meeting type-approval standards so can legally be sold but lacking critical modern safety technology
Some cars have dual ratings as the lower is for the vehicle with standard equipment, while the higher is for the vehicle when equipped with certain options, often in the form of a safety pack.
NCAP ratings are valid for a region. Some cars have less standard equipment as imported by other countries.
Euro NCAP Advanced
Euro NCAP Advanced is a reward system launched in 2010 for advanced safety technologies, complementing Euro NCAP's existing star rating scheme. Euro NCAP rewards and recognises car manufacturers that make available new safety technologies which demonstrate a scientifically proven safety benefit for consumers and society, but are not yet considered in the star rating By rewarding technologies, Euro NCAP provides an incentive to manufacturers to accelerate the standard fitment of important safety equipment across their model ranges.
Rating history
1997 - first crash tests of offset deformable barrier test and side impact
2003 - New child protection rating
2008 - Whiplash tests introduced
2010 - Euro NCAP Advance Award introduced
2011 -
ESC included in vehicle rating
2014 -
AEB included into the rating
2015
* Side impact "upgraded"
* January - Full width rigid barrier test introduced
* November - AEB for pedestrians included
2016
* January - New child dummies introduced
* April - Dual rating introduced
2018 - AEB included cyclists
2020
* MPDB and far side crash tests introduced
* Offset deformable barrier discontinued
* AEB reverse & AEB Turn Across Path introduced
Comparison groups
The results are grouped into 11 increasingly demanding classes:
* Pre-2009 (archive)
* 2009
* 2010-2011
* 2012
* 2013
* 2014
* 2015
* 2016-2017
* 2018-2019
* 2020-2022
* 2023-2024
Quadricycle Ratings
There is a different
quadricycle rating for four-wheeled micro cars.
Members and test facilities
There are many members and test facilities throughout Europe.
Members
*
ADAC
*
German Federal Ministry of Transport and Digital Infrastructure
*
UK Department for Transport
*
Dutch Ministry of Infrastructure and Water Management
*
Luxembourgish Ministry of the Economy
*
Government of Catalonia
*
International Consumer Research & Testing
*
FIA
*
Swedish Transport Administration
*
Thatcham Research
*
French Ministry for the Ecological Transition
*
Automobile Club d'Italia The Automobile Club d'Italia (usually known by its acronym ACI) is a not-for-profit statutory corporation of the Italian Republic. The club originated through the efforts of Count Carlo Biscaretti di Ruffia as the "Automobile Club of Turin" founde ...
*
DEKRA Automobil
*
Testing facilities
* Thatcham Research
* ADAC Technik Zentrum
* BASt
* TNO
* UTAC CERAM
* IDIADA AT
* CSI
* AstaZero
* Mira China
* China Automotive Engineering Research Institute
See also
General
*
Automobile safety rating
*
Car classification
*
Car safety
*
Road safety
*
Crumple zone
Safety organisations
*
Transport Research Laboratory
*
World Forum for Harmonization of Vehicle Regulations
*
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA ) is an agency of the U.S. federal government, part of the Department of Transportation. It describes its mission as "Save lives, prevent injuries, reduce vehicle-related crashes" rel ...
*
Insurance Institute for Highway Safety
References
External links
* , The European New Car Assessment Programme
European New Car Assessment Programme
{{DEFAULTSORT:Euro Ncap
New Car Assessment Programs
Consumer organisations in Belgium
1996 establishments in Belgium