Euro NCAP

The European New Car Assessment Programme is the independent, official body that assesses the safety performance of cars.

How does it work?

Cars are evaluated on adult, child and pedestrian protection using a star rating system. Vehicles are scored out of five stars.

Since February 2009 there is only one single Euro NCAP star rating per vehicle. The rating in composed of scores achieved in four areas of assessment – Adult Occupant, Child Occupant, Pedestrian Protection and Safety Assist. A weighted average is taken from the four areas, depending on their relevant importance.

Adult Occupant (max 36 points)

This is comprised of front impact, side impact, pole and whiplash neck injury tests:

• The front impact test has the car travelling at 64km/h into a deformable barrier so that 40% of the frontal area on the driver’s side hits the barrier
• The side impact test features a trolley with deformable front barrier that impacts the driver’s side of the cars at 50km/h
• The pole test propels the car sideways at 29km/h into a narrow rigid pole
• For whiplash neck injury scores, points are based on geometric assessment of the head restrain position and on dynamic results in three test conditions

Child Occupant (max 49 points)

The child protection score is made up of 3 parts:

• Dynamic assessment based on 1½ and 3 year old child in child restraint system (CRS) in frontal and side impact
• CRS based assessment, including CRS marking and CRS to vehicle interface
• Vehicle based assessment, including airbag warning marking, airbag disabling, provision of three-point belts, the suitability for universal seats, – Gabarit, ISOFIX and integrated CRS

Pedestrian (max 36 points)

This consists of a series of impact tests with dummies representing adult and child pedestrians hit by the front of the car travelling at 40km/h:

• Child (2.5 kg) and Adult (4.8 kg) headform impactor testing
• Legform to bumper tests
• Upper legform to bumper and to bonnet leading edge tests

Safety Assist (max 7 points)

This score is made up of three parts:

• Seat Belt Reminder
• Electronic Stability Control (ESC)
• Speed Limitation Devices (SLD) passive (warning only) and active (intervention) speed limiters

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