Press release -
COMMENT: Euro NCAP Commercial Van ratings bring collision severity onto the radar
Today, Euro NCAP, the voluntary vehicle safety programme, released updated ratings for 18 commercial vans. The vans’ ‘active’ crash avoidance systems were tested against tougher new protocols, resulting in a variety of safety awards from ‘Gold’ through to ‘Not Recommended’.
Automotive risk intelligence company Thatcham Research is the UK’s only Euro NCAP accredited testing centre, and its chief research strategy officer Matthew Avery offered a view on these latest safety results:
“As a society, our reliance on commercial vans shows no sign of declining anytime soon. When one of the millions of vans on UK roads is involved in a collision, impact severity tends to be higher than that of a passenger vehicle, which is why Euro NCAP’s rating is focused on the performance of safety technologies that avoid or mitigate crashes.
“With 13.5% of the whole vehicle fleet comprising of vans, it’s important that van drivers, and those sharing the roads with them, are protected. This latest set of results demonstrates that manufacturers are responding positively and it’s of note that the UK’s most popular commercial van, the Ford Transit, secured a ‘Gold’ rating.
“However, the fitment of crash avoidance technology seen on vans has some way to go before gaining parity with the high levels of standard fitment we enjoy on cars today.”
HGV rating scheme great news for road safety
Euro NCAP also announced that it will soon introduce a rating scheme for Heavy Goods Vehicles (HGVs).
Avery comments: “This is great news for road safety. HGVs make up a very small percentage of the fleet (1.5%), but their contribution to Killed and Seriously Injured statistics is disproportionately high (15%), with 90% being external to the vehicle. Although fitment of Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB) to HGVs has been mandatory since 2015, the new rating will drive best practice with an urgent focus on HGVs not only matching, but exceeding, the performance levels of AEB on passenger vehicles.
“The rating will also assess and drive fitment of the full suite of Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) and will exceed new EU ‘General Safety Regulation 2’ requirements.”
To access all datasheets, images and video please visit: Euro NCAP Newsroom (newsmarket.com)
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Thatcham Research is the independent voice of automotive safety, security & repair, advising motorists, insurers and vehicle manufacturers to help reduce accident frequency, severity and costs and to realise the vision of ‘Safer cars, fewer crashes’, while driving standards in vehicle security.
As well as its world leading crash and track research, Thatcham Research develops repair methods amongst a number of other products and services within the collision repair industry for insurers, motor manufacturers, equipment manufacturers and suppliers.
In addition, Thatcham Research has administered the Association of British Insurer’s (ABI) Group Rating system for the past 50 years. Group Rating is an advisory system intended to provide insurers with the relative risk of private cars and light commercial vehicles.
A founder member of the international Research Council for Automobile Repairs (RCAR), Thatcham Research has also been a member of the European New Car Assessment Programme (Euro NCAP) since 2004.
