EuroNCAP ratings play an important role in improving car safety

The crash test is a process performed by car manufacturers in order to assess the durability and behavior of a vehicle during a collision, but also its overall ability to provide protection to passengers. Such tests have been conducted since the 1950s and play an important role in improving the safety provided by a car. The results provide valuable information on the safety of a vehicle before it hits the road.

Conducting a crash test is now the responsibility of all car manufacturers. This is regulated by legislation introduced in the 1970s and requires vehicles to meet certain collision standards. If a model does not meet the requirements, it may not be allowed to be marketed in accordance with the regulations in force in some countries. Within the European Union, tests are often carried out by independent institutions, such as Euro NCAP (European New Car Assessment Program), which is a non-profit organization that deals with the evaluation of vehicle safety.

In the case of Euro NCAP tests, these include the frontal impact consisting of two tests. The first test is a complete frontal impact on a stationary wall at a speed of 50 km / h, while the second test is performed with the vehicle colliding with a 1,400 kg mobile obstacle, which is designed to simulate an average car on the road. Both the test car and the obstacle move at 50 km / h. The impact area covers 50% of the frontal area of ​​the vehicle.

The side impact involves a 900 kg collision on the side of a stationary vehicle at a speed of 50 km / h at the level of the center pillar of the body. The tests continue with the pillar test, where the car moves sideways at a speed of 29 km / h and crashes into a vertical obstacle, also at the level of the center pillar of the body. Another test is the pedestrian collision, which simulates a pedestrian being hit from the front of a vehicle moving at 40 km / h. Dummies are used for this purpose.

Some crash tests incorporate other tests, such as a car crash into the back of another vehicle, a rollover, a motorcycle crash, and a tree crash.

Based on the results of the crash tests, the reviews are compiled and divided into several categories, such as adult passenger protection, child passenger protection, vulnerable road user protection and safety assistance.

Each of these categories is graded and given an overall score on a five star scale. The highest score provides very good impact protection. Interestingly, the scale initially contained only 4 stars (although when a fifth was added in 1999, experts considered it impossible to achieve the highest rating), but just two years later the second-generation Renault Laguna achieved the highest rating. Year by year, the number of 5-star ratings increases due to the use of increasingly safer materials and designs in car construction.