Euro NCAP’s Results Highlight Safety as a Priority in New Car Design

November 13, 2024

This month, three new cars went through Euro NCAP’s rigorous testing: the sporty electric SUV Cupra Tavascan, the SUV MG HS and the MPV Ford Tourneo Courier. The two SUVs achieve Euro NCAP’s top rating of five stars. Ford’s new MPV achieves a disappointing three stars but also comes with a commitment from the company to improve.

The Cupra brand is by now well established as the sporty stablemate to SEAT’s more low-key offerings.The sleek new Tavascan is no different with its fashionable appeal, and its safety performance hits the high notes too. Good protection is offered to all vehicle occupants including children. The Cupra has an active bonnet to protect pedestrians and good reactive response to cyclists and motorcyclists. The car has an indirect driver status monitoring system as standard, detecting driver fatigue although not distraction. The lane support system gently corrects the vehicle’s path if it is drifting out of lane and intervenes in some more critical situations. The Tavascan also provides Intelligent Adaptive Cruise Control (iACC), which can adapt the vehicle’s speed to the prevailing limits and road conditions. All in all, the Cupra Tavascan impresses with a five-star safety result.

The last time Euro NCAP tested MG’s largest vehicle, the HS, was in 2019 when it received a five-star rating. Euro NCAP’s protocols have been upgraded twice since then, and MG has ensured that this mid-size SUV has kept abreast of developments, with new technologies to ensure a 2024 5-star result. This demonstrates the continuing influence of Euro NCAP on vehicle safety, and the willingness of manufacturers such as MG to respond, pushing their cars to ever-higher levels of performance. For example, the car has good protection for pedestrians and cyclists as well as an effective autonomous emergency braking (AEB) system that responds well to a range of vulnerable road users. The car also includes protection against ‘dooring’ where a door is suddenly opened in the path of a cyclist approaching from behind. All in all, under Euro NCAP’s 2024 testing programme the car receives an impressive five-star Euro NCAP rating.

The Ford Transit Courier van, on which the passenger car version of the Ford Tourneo Courier is based, received a Platinum rating from Euro NCAP in 2024, thanks to the high level of active safety technologies fitted to the vehicle. However, against Euro NCAP’s broader assessment of passenger cars, it is a rather different story. In the full-width rigid barrier frontal impact, protection of the head was rated as poor for the small female sitting in the rear seat. The test is a tough one for the rear restraint system, which includes the belts, pre-tensioners and load-limiters. This was a surprisingly mediocre safety performance for Ford and resulted in a three-star rating. Euro NCAP has understood that this will be rectified, and the updated passenger car version will be re-assessed in 2025.

“It may seem that Euro NCAP is setting a tough task for manufacturers, yet we work closely together with industry, encouraging changes in car design that ultimately save lives. As Euro NCAP upgrades its protocols to be more stringent, with new guidelines for safety technologies and in relation to vulnerable users, we are ensuring that as a consumer, you have the best safety equipment available as standard on your new car to make your journey as safe as it can possibly be. Euro NCAP’s 2026 protocols are now available for the industry to review, highlighting future safety innovations to be added to our testing programme.”

Dr. Michiel van Ratingen, Secretary General Euro NCAP

Results also released today:

The Ford Capri is a partner model to the Ford Explorer, assessed by Euro NCAP in September 2024. An additional test has been conducted to confirm similar safety performance but most of the test results are those of the Explorer. The car receives a 5-star rating.

The Mitsubishi ASX is identical to the Renault Captur, also tested by Euro NCAP in September 2024. Accordingly, the tests and rating of that car is used for this assessment. The car receives a 4-star rating.

The BEV variant of the CHERY OMODA5 tested in 2022 also receives a 5-star Euro NCAP rating.