Euro NCAP reveals today’s best safety innovations

Euro NCAP
October 2, 2010

Paris - Euro NCAP presented the first Euro NCAP Advanced rewards at a press conference held on October 1st 2010 at the Paris Motor Show. Ten technologies developed by car manufacturers were rewarded for offering scientifically proven safety benefits.

Euro NCAP Advanced is a Euro NCAP initiative in response to the rapid development of new technologies available when buying cars for which there is no independent assessment. By rewarding advanced technologies, Euro NCAP is now providing an incentive to car manufacturers to accelerate the standard fitment of important safety equipment across their model ranges as well as offering more comprehensive guidance to consumers about the safety of new cars, helping them to make the right purchase decision.

The organization has rewarded the first set of manufacturers for their efforts in their development of new safety features. The 2010 rewarded advanced technologies are:

Audi Side Assist
BMW Assist Advanced eCall
Honda Collision Mitigation Braking System (CMBS)
Mercedes-Benz PRE-SAFE® and PRE-SAFE® Brake
Opel Eye
Peugeot Connect SOS and
Citroën Localized Emergency Call
Volkswagen Lane Assist
Volvo City Safety

Euro NCAP Advanced is open to any technical system that has a proven safety benefit, whether it is primary, secondary or tertiary, as long as it is available as an option on one of the Euro NCAP tested cars and not already addressed by the current star rating. The overall rating consists of an independent verification of a car by Euro NCAP based on crash tests and published protocols, The Euro NCAP Advanced assessment is based entirely on manufacturers’ data generated in their own defined test conditions and rigorously analysed by a team of experts appointed by Euro NCAP. In addition, Euro NCAP Advanced requires manufacturers to identify exactly what the safety impact of their technology may be in European countries, taking into consideration the different infrastructure, jurisdictions and at times driver behaviour.

Car manufacturers are pleased that Euro NCAP is launching an initiative which raises awareness of significant systems offering a safety benefit. Dr van Ratingen said: ‘Carmakers were involved in the development of the process and were very keen to get their systems into the assessment. We ended up having almost too many dossiers to cope with and we have more coming up in the next months, which is a clear sign that the industry is actively driving safety improvements, even when green cars are top on the agenda.’

Most systems rewarded at the Paris Motor Show were developed a few years ago and have been in the marketplace for at least a year or two. In the future, Euro NCAP Advanced will be able to use the methodology to assess completely new technologies, tackling areas of safety which have not yet been addressed.

Sometimes, it has proven very challenging for some carmakers to present a convincing case on which the Euro NCAP Advanced reward can be based. Not all of the technologies put forward in this first set of assessments have been rewarded. However, manufacturers can further develop their dossiers to demonstrate more clearly the benefits of their technologies, and Euro NCAP would be happy to reassess their systems at that stage.

So far, the dialog with manufacturers on their technologies is helping Euro NCAP to better understand the issues with the current generation of systems and fully digest the way carmakers have evaluated the performance of their systems both in laboratory tests as on the real roads.

The reward systems works two ways: on one hand by rewarding new innovations, Euro NCAP is now helping accelerate uptake of important safety features with the aim to make consumers more aware on the availability and function of these systems. On the other hand, this ultimately provides Euro NCAP with the knowledge to develop future protocols that might be included in the current star rating. Indeed, the overall rating system with its four pillars is designed to make inclusion of new methods, as early as 2013, thus challenging vehicle manufacturers to make all-round safer cars.

Euro NCAP is confirming that other technologies will be assessed in the coming months and will be announced in 2011.

Detailed information about the 2010 rewarded technologies, their safety benefits and the related cars is now available on Euro NCAP’s website: www.euroncap.com/rewards.aspx

For more details, please contact Marie Brasseur, Communications Manager at email or +32 2 4007746.