Euro NCAP: 5 for 7 of 8
EURO NCAP has announced its latest round of testing – with only one car failing to get a top 5 star score.
The latest line of safe new cars includes:
• Honda Insight
• Kia Sorento
• Renault Grand Scenic
• Skoda Yeti
• Subaru Legacy
• Toyota Prius
• Volkswagen Polo
And the car that failed to get five stars? It’s the new Citroen C3, which earns a four-star score.
Euro NCAP says the Citroen’s failure to get five stars is because ESP stability control is not standard on enough models in the range. That’s part of the tougher test Euro NCAP introduced earlier this year, to make scores more representative.
The Citroen’s supermini rival here, Volkswagen’s Polo, has standard ESP on enough variants to get a five-star rating.
But it’s the performance by the ‘green’ hybrid Insight and Prius that’s really impressed Euro NCAP. Both these two cars actually score top marks for pedestrian safety, too – a big jump over 2008’s gloomy result of just 1 in 4 cars winning more than two stars here.
‘The technology and know-how is out there for carmakers to deliver vehicles with better pedestrian protection,’ said Euro NCAP secretary general Dr Michiel van Ratingen.
‘Honda and Toyota are giving us a glimpse of the cars of the future that consider the natural and social environment in its entirety.’
Euro NCAP: Renault makes it 12
Tags: euro ncap