3:24 am, May 24, 2012
BMW’s 3 Series, the Hyundai i30, Mazda’s CX-5 and the Peugeot 208 have all received Euro NCAP’s maximum five-star rating.
The latest round of test have shown that car makers are rising to Euro NCAP’s challenging 2012 five-star requirements, especially in the area of pedestrian protection where the thresholds have been significantly increased this year.
The BMW 3 Series in particular achieved a ‘commendable’ 78 per cent in pedestrian protection, while the Peugeot 208 scored 61 per cent for pedestrian protection – only just clearing the 2012 5 star threshold of 60 per cent.
Meanwhile the Mazda CX-5 scored 64 per cent and the Hyundai i30 67 per cent.
In both side impact tests – the side barrier and the pole test – the Mazda CX-5 scored maximum points, the only car of the latest release to do so. By contrast, the i30 showed weak protection of the chest in the side pole test, although its score for child occupant protection was the highest in this round of tests.
The Mazda CX-5 achieved five stars and, together with the BMW 3 Series, offers an Autonomous Emergency Braking System (AEBs). Such systems act independently of the driver to stop the car, or to reduce its speed, if a collision is imminent.
Dr Michiel van Ratingen, secretary general of Euro NCAP, said: ‘If all cars were fitted with AEB systems, many crashes could be mitigated or avoided altogether on European roads.’
