EURO NCAP

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The 'European New Car Assessment Programme' (Euro NCAP) is a European car safety performance assessment programme founded in 1997 by the Transport Research Laboratory for the UK Department of Transport. The organisation is now backed by the European Commission, the governments of France, Germany, Sweden, The Netherlands and the Catalonian part of Spain, as well as motoring and consumer organisations in every EU country.^[1]
[2]
Euro NCAP publishes 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.
The frontal tests are performed at 64 km/h (about 40 mph) into an offset deformable barrier. The side impact tests are performed at 50 km/h (about 30 mph), but the side impact pole test is performed at 29 km/h (about 20 mph). The pedestrian safety tests are performed at 40 km/h (about 25 mph).
Over the years, European automakers' cars have become much safer, partly thanks to the Euro NCAP standards. 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100, which after receiving a one-star Adult Occupant Rating in the tests in 1996, suffered from poor sales and was withdrawn from production soon afterwards.
European cars must meet the requirements as expressed in "Directive[s] of the European Parliament and Council", and one of these which involves frontal impact is termed Directive 2003/102/EC. It is this directive and its predecessors (dating back to Directive 70/156/EEC, of 1970) and successors which require cars to be designed to meet the safety requirements. BMW's second MINI, for example, had its bonnet (hood) and headlamp fixture changed to meet the latest requirements.

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See also

Notes

External links

See also

★ Car classification

★ Car safety

★ FMVSS

★ NHTSA

★ Road safety

★ Transport Research Laboratory

★ World Forum for Harmonization of Vehicle Regulations

Notes

1. About us: Introduction
2. Euro NCAP members

External links

★ Euro NCAP - official website