THE EUROPEAN NEW Car Assessment Programme (Euro NCAP) has released its crash test scores for its latest round of testing.
The programme grades cars in the areas of adult occupant protection, child occupant protection, pedestrian safety and safety assist, which covers driver aids.
During this round the new Alfa Romeo Stelvio, Honda Civic, Hyundai i30, Opel Insignia, SEAT Ibiza and Volkswagen Arteon were all tested as was the facelifted Ford Mustang.
The Alfa Romeo Stelvio, Hyundai i30, Opel Insignia, SEAT Ibiza and Volkswagen Arteon are all awarded a maximum five-star rating; Honda’s new Civic gets four stars; and Ford’s muscle-car, the Mustang, gets three stars in its latest form.
Volkswagen’s new flagship saloon, the Arteon, performed well in all areas of assessment, becoming the highest-scoring executive vehicle for pedestrian protection to date with an 85 per cent score. This high rating in the ‘Pedestrian Protection’ category is achieved by the successful combination of the emergency braking function related to pedestrians, which is fitted as standard, and the high passive potential for safeguarding unprotected road users.
Alfa Romeo’s new SUV, the Stelvio, performed very well in adult occupant protection, with score of 97 per cent. Only a handful of cars have scored 97 per cent or higher for adult protection; 2009 VW Golf, 2010 Alfa Romeo Giulietta, 2011 Mercedes-Benz B Class, 2012 Volvo V40, 2015 Volvo XC90 and in 2016 the Alfa Romeo Giulia.
The marque’s first ever SUV was recognised for two key areas of excellence: the adoption of extensive innovative safety features and the structural efficiency of its rigid and lightweight body shell, which is constructed from high-tech materials such as carbon fibre, aluminium and aluminium composite.
The SEAT Ibiza stood out for its high level of standard safety equipment. Many cars in the supermini segment often have autonomous braking as an option but the Ibiza’s system, which includes pedestrian detection, comes as standard.
This helped it not only score five stars but 95 per cent for adult occupant protection and 77 per cent for child occupant protection.
In the small family car category, Hyundai’s new i30 scored 88 per cent for adult occupant protection, a great 84 per cent for child protection, 64 per cent for pedestrian safety and 68 per cent for safety assist.
The new Opel Insignia got solid ratings across the board with 93 per cent for adult, 85 per cent for child and 78 per cent of pedestrian protection and 69 per cent for safety assist.
The Honda Civic is let down by lower-than-expected 67 per cent child occupant protection rating but is still rated as a solid four star car with a good scores of 92 per cent for adult protection, 75 per cent of pedestrian protection and 88 per cent for safety assist.
Earlier this year, the Ford Mustang scored a shocking two stars during testing. Ford then went off and tried to make the facelifted model safer by making AEB and Lane Assistance standard and improving its front airbags.
However, even with these changes the Ford Mustang 5.0 Fastback managed just a three-star rating this time round. It scored 72 per cent for adult, just 32 per cent for child and 78 per cent for pedestrian safety and 61 per cent for safety assist.
If there’s a particular car that you would like to know a safety score for, you can visit euroncap.com to view all the test results.
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