The latest round of Euro NCAP results cover four cars which gain four or five stars.

Today, Euro NCAP releases the results of four new cars.  The MINI Countryman and Škoda Kodiaq are both awarded a five-star rating.  

Nissan’s new Micra gets four stars with standard equipment and five stars with the optional safety pack (1).  The Suzuki Swift is rated as three stars as standard and four stars with the optional safety equipment.

All cars reach the five star levels for adult occupant protection, child protection and pedestrian protection.  The differences come in the fitment of advanced driver assistance systems.  

The Škoda Kodiaq is equipped as standard with an AEB system that detects pedestrians as well as other cars.  The Kodiaq’s five-star rating continues Škoda’s recent good form: all recently tested Škodas have been rated as five stars. 

The MINI has AEB car-to-car as standard and pedestrian detection as an option.  Nissan put AEB pedestrian and lane assistance in the option pack (‘Euro NCAP 5* Pack’) of the Micra, nudging the four-star rating with standard equipment into five-star territory with the option pack fitted.  

Only the Suzuki Swift does not offer AEB pedestrian, with AEB car-to-car in its ‘Radar Brake Support’ option pack.

Euro NCAP Secretary General, Michiel van Ratingen, said, “Euro NCAP started rewarding AEB pedestrian systems last year and we have seen a rapid uptake of the technology.   

We hope to see as fast an adoption of AEB systems that detect cyclists when tests of those systems form part of the rating next year.  

For twenty years, Euro NCAP has been pushing manufacturers to fit new and better safety technologies: originally, such things as airbags and pre-tensioners and, nowadays, advanced driver assistance systems that will form the building blocks for the automated vehicles of tomorrow.”

Full Five Star award in latest Euro NCAP tests for the Volkswagen Touran.

• Maximum five-star rating for all-new Touran MPV
• High scores recorded in all four EuroNCAP test categories
• Based on Volkswagen’s MQB platform with a range of new safety systems and features
• New Touran available to order now from £22,240 – first deliveries in December

The all-new Volkswagen Touran has been awarded a five-star rating by independent safety organisation Euro NCAP – with an overall score that marks it out as one of the safest and most protective family cars in the industry.

Set to arrive in the UK in December, the new Touran excelled in the latest round of Euro NCAP tests, thanks to its a first-class safety package that includes an optimised body structure, highly effective belt, seat and airbag combination and innovative driver assistance systems. 

The Touran performed strongly in all four key areas: occupant protection for adults and children, pedestrian protection and safety assistance, and highlighted Volkswagen’s commitment to occupant and pedestrian safety.

Euro NCAP has been regarded as one of the most important benchmarks for vehicle safety in Europe since 1997. The new Touran was put through the organisation’s newest and most rigorous test programme, and recorded an 88 per cent rating for adult safety. The tests carried

out included:

• Frontal impact into a deformable barrier at 40mph with 40 per cent overlap
• Frontal impact at 30mph into a rigid barrier with 100 per cent overlap
• Impact from the side at 30mph into the vehicle side structure
• Side impact against a pole at 20mph

The new family MPV also recorded excellent results in the important child protection sub-section. Thanks to ISOFIX and top tether child seat anchors being fitted as standard, the new Touran achieved over 89 per cent of the available points. 

In the pedestrian protection category, the Touran was given a total score of 71 per cent with recognition of the Touran’s numerous engineering features designed to reduce the risk of injury to passers-by.

The new Touran is available to order now with prices starting from £22,240. Based on Volkswagen’s MQB platform, the new model offers more space, greater practicality and lower running costs than the previous model. 

Safety equipment includes airbags for driver and front-seat passenger (with front-seat passenger airbag deactivation and including knee airbag on the driver's side) and a head airbag system for front and rear-seat passengers, including side airbags. 

The new Touran also has systems such as Electronic Stability Control (ESC), including ABS with Brake Assist, Automatic Post-Collision Braking, a Tyre Pressure Monitoring System and Driver Alert on board as standard.

Suzuki Vitara achieves the full EURO NCAP Five Stars, with above average marks in all categories.

• New Vitara scores high in all categories of assessment
• The first compact SUV to attain five stars in new and more rigorous testing by Euro NCAP
• Outstanding crash performance due to Suzuki’s Total Effective Control Technology (TECT)

The new Suzuki Vitara compact SUV, launched earlier this month, is rated one of Europe's safest cars according to independent crash testing results from Euro NCAP, receiving the maximum 5-star rating. 

Vitara is also the first compact SUV to earn five stars in the more rigorous 2015 Euro NCAP testing programme which further reinforces the exemplary level of safety of the new model.

Suzuki’s new Vitara has been awarded high scores in all four areas of assessment and also exceeds the minimum level required in all of these to attain the five star rating. These areas are listed below:

Area of Assessment	Vitara Score	Minimum required for Five star Euro NCAP rating
Adult occupant	89%	80%
Child Occupant	85%	75%
Pedestrian	76%	65%
Safety Assist	75%	70%

The new Vitara’s passive and active safety systems are designed to intelligently anticipate and react to potentially dangerous situations with an excellent level of protection. 

One of its major safety features is Total Effective Control Technology which is a concept for occupant protecting impact absorption and low weight developed by Suzuki.

Extensive use of high tensile steel and computer aided engineering technologies make the body light, highly crashworthy as well as fuel efficient.

Standard safety equipment includes seven airbags which includes a driver’s knee airbag as well as seat belt pre-tensioners and force limiters. 

Euro NCAP’s tests on the front seats and head restraints showed good protection against whiplash injury in the event of a rear end collision and a geometric assessment of the rear seats also  indicated good protection.

Suzuki paid particular attention to child safety in accordance with latest European legislation and pedestrian protection received the highest score amongst its competitors thanks to bonnet shape and new structures for the cowl top and wipers. The bumpers also provide good impact absorption to lessen the degree of harm if the car comes into contact with a pedestrian.

Vitara is on sale in the UK from £13,999 for the SZ4 1.6-litre petrol model with two wheel drive and is available with ALLGRIP four wheel drive as an option.

EURO NCAP IS ANNOUNCING THE TOP CHOICES FOR SAFETY AND THE RECOMMENDED VEHICLES IN THEIR CLASS.

In 2012, Euro NCAP published the results for 36 vehicles available on the European market. Six five-star vehicles performed highly in each of the four individual marking criteria: adult occupant protection, child occupant protection, pedestrian protection and safety assist systems.

The best in class of 2012, recommended by Euro NCAP for their outstanding safety performance are:

Renault Clio  Supermini

Volvo V40 Small Family

Ford B-MAX Small MPV

Fiat 500L Small MPV

Ford Kuga Small Off-Road 4x4

Hyundai Santa Fe Large Off-Road 4x4

BMW 3 Series Large Family

Ford Transit Business/family van

The FIAT 500L and Ford B-MAX are sharing the Best in Class honour in the Small MPV category. The Volvo V40 reached the highest combined score of any car previously tested by Euro NCAP. Whilst 26 five-star cars were released, one model achieved four stars and 8 received three stars. Last year’s underperformers were theJeep Compass and Renault Trafic, each of which was only able to score two stars against the latest set of requirements.

The runners-up of 2012 are the Ford Fiesta in the Supermini category; the Opel Mokka in the Small Family category; the Volvo V60 Plug-In Hybrid in the Large Family category; the Subaru Forester in the Small Off-Road 4x4 category, and the Range Rover in the Large Off-Road 4x4.

For the first time, Euro NCAP released comparative tests results in the popular category of Business and Family vans. The Ford Transit is the first van to achieve a Euro NCAP five star overall rating and to receive the best in class honour.The runners-up in this new category are the FIAT Scudo and its twins, the Citroen Jumpy andPeugeot Expert, all of which received three stars.