The latest round of crash test results from safety experts Euro NCAP have been announced,
with a maximum five-star rating for all seven cars tested.
But what do the results actually show us? Well with the help of Thatcham Research that’s
what we’re going to tell you right now. And if you want to buy any of these extra
safe cars head to the New Car Buying section on whatcar.com to find the best deals - and
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We haven’t even driven the new Renault Clio yet, but it’s already achieved an incredibly
impressive crash test result. It scored the joint highest mark for adult occupant protection
in the small car class, which was recorded by the Volkswagen Polo in 2017. In Thatcham’s
eyes this is the star of the latest round of testing.
As a small car, it’s at the more cost sensitive end of the scale. You can do a lot more for
safety in bigger, more expensive cars. So considering the Clio’s price point it has
performed incredibly well.
The level of safety assistance is the highlight. For some years Renault has been lagging behind
some of the collision avoidance technology its german counterparts have had. But this
latest test sees the French manufacturer coming back very strongly.
Child occupant protection scores are also incredibly high, scoring 23.7 out of 24 points.
This is a car that will be popular with families, and that 89% score for child protection is
the highest score so far this year.
The Mazda 3 is another pick of these latest results, with the highest adult occupant protection
score registered so far this year - at 98%. Mazda has raised the bar again. These latest
Euro NCAP crash tests are the most stringent ever, and they’ve seen manufacturers rising
to the challenge. Mazda has consistently produced safe cars.
In all areas the Mazda impressed. The only thing that was classed as ‘adequate to good’
was the lower legs of the driver in the frontal offset test - but that’s only very minor
which is why it’s 98% rather than 100%. If you look at the frontal offset crash - you
can see how stable the passenger compartment is. You could walk away from that crash, and
that is truly remarkable - you’d still probably have a headache though.
The new Volkswagen T-Cross achieved a strong set of results across the board. It’s in
one of the fastest growing sectors of the market, one that will surely be popular with
families, and it offers very good occupant protection.
In fact, it’s one of the highest scores ever seen. There’s a good balance of adult
occupant protection, child protection and safety assist scores, with good collision
avoidance, too.
The weakest part is in the frontal crash. Similar to the Mazda 3, the driver’s lower
leg was classed as marginal. But 97% is pretty brilliant. It’s also impressive that the
autonomous emergency braking works effectively at high speeds on the T-Cross.
Manufacturers face a difficult task with making electric cars safe. It’s important to protect
the battery pack, otherwise you might end up with a fire, but you don’t want to make
the car too heavy. It’s a difficult area, but Audi has risen to the challenge with the
e-tron, which has become one of the safest electric cars tested.
The pole crash is the really telling one for electric cars. It replicates a car spinning
off into a tree. To perform well in this test you need a lightweight structure that still
resists intrusion into the vehicle. You’ve got to have a very stiff structure, which
is difficult to do around the central b-pillar of the car, which is around the middle as
you can see here.
You need a good restraint system to protect the occupants too. The e-tron recorded similarly
impressive results as one of its main electric car rivals - Jaguar I-Pace.
The other cars tested include the Lexus UX, Toyota Corolla, and Toyota RAV4.
All of which gained the maximum five-star mark from Euro NCAP.
Toyota and Lexus has a track record of high active and passive safety results - and the
safety assist score for each of them is an impressive 77%.
And if you want to see how far car safety has come over the years, click on the banner
in the top right hand corner to see a new car crash tested against one that’s 20 years
old.
So in a year when crash test and collision avoidance tests have got harder and harder,
manufacturers have dug in and got brilliant results from it. For much more on all of these
cars including our extended written reviews of them, head to whatcar.com. And if you want
to buy any of them go to the New Car Buying section on our website to see how much money
we could save you. And please subscribe to our channel, and give this video a like if
you’ve enjoyed it, or leave a comment if you have any questions.