Children are less well protected by safety features in recent car models than drivers and adult passengers, crash test specialists European New Car Assessment Program (Euro NCAP) said on Tuesday, according to Reuters.
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After subjecting 18 recent car models to violent front and side crashes, Euro NCAP found injury risks were higher for small children, even with special child restraints, than for adults, Reuters said.
“We’re disappointed in that as far as children are concerned results could be even better than they are,” Euro NCAP chairman Max Mosley told Reuters after unveiling the 18 smashed-up cars on Rome’s Piazza del Popolo.
According to Reuters, Mosley said a lack of systematic testing of child protection features, until NCAP’s own recent efforts, had made it hard for manufacturers to improve in that area.
“Now that the facts are known… parents will put huge pressure on the people producing both the seats and the cars to improve safety,” he told Reuters.
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By GlobalDataReuters said that Euro NCAP overall found vehicle makers had vastly improved safety for passengers in the five years that it has been testing newly-issued models, though progress in making cars less lethal for pedestrians involved in crashes was too slow.
“With the pedestrians… we’d like to see more progress. There are different features on different cars which if they were all combined in one would give pedestrians a much better chance,” Mosley told Reuters.
Four of the 18 models tested in the latest phase were awarded the maximum rating of five stars for passenger safety, and a four-star rating was now the norm, as opposed to one or two stars five years ago, Reuters said.
But no model gained more than two stars for pedestrian protection, and one car, Suzuki’s Grand Vitara, was the first ever tested by Euro NCAP to receive no star at all in that category, Reuters noted.
Mosley told Reuters that manufacturers were reluctant to invest in making cars safer for pedestrians because consumers were not prepared to pay a premium to protect people outside their vehicle.
“There is no doubt that when you buy a car, if you’re interested in safety at all you’re interested in protecting yourself and your passengers,” he said to Reuters.
Reuters said the overall star performer among the 18 freshly-tested models was the new Renault Megane, which scored five stars for passenger safety and two for pedestrian protection.
Mosley told Reuters the Megane was the first small family car to achieve such a high rating and this proved a top safety standard was possible for whatever type of car and not just pricey executive models.
Reuters said that other models that obtained five stars for passenger safety were Renault’s Vel Satis, the Mercedes E-Class and the Saab 9-3.
Euro NCAP is financed by six Western European governments, several drivers’ associations and consumer groups, Reuters noted.
