General Poor EuroNCAP safety rating.

[The Negotiator]

That is yet again bad advice, big car means very little in safety, I would much prefer to be in a Modus than a Chrysler Voyager (0% score frontal impact) it's a big car but hit anything above 40mph and you're probably dead.

The Voyager did so badly in the frontal impact that it earned no points, making it the worst of the group by some margin. The body structure became unstable and the steering column was driven back into the driver's chest and head.

It proves you can have airbags, height adjustable belts, 1800kg and a huge size and still be sitting in a death trap.

It also proves people consider NCAP, sales dropped for the Voyager soon after it was published.

Crashes happen day in day out, obviously you and I never expect it to be us, 3500 died in 2003 on the roads, 10 a day.

 

[lalli]

I have been driving now for over 30 years & never been involved in a serious accident & hopefully never will. Thinking about it I can't think of anyone I know who has had a bad accident.
If your safety is a number one priority get a bigger car.

also the panda is very light. I think mass has a great effect.
But i also state, if safety is a no.1 priority simply don't drive!!!!

 

[Dr_Pepper]

I think mass has a great effect.

Yes don't listen to Paul clearly a bigger car is safer because it is more likely to come off better in a crash due to more weight.

Think of it this way - Ncap crashed the panda into a concrete wall. If they crashed it into another panda the car would be damaged. If they crashed it into a Ulysee, regardless of the safety rating of the other car, the panda would be more damaged at the same speed because of the additional weight and threrefore force applied.

A larger car generally will come off better because it is larger than the car it hits.

 

[The Negotiator]

But the occupents in the higher NCAP rating come off better, it's a statistical fact. In head on collisions, the car with the higher NCAP will do the best.

And actually, physically you're wrong Rich, a higher car will have the higher momentum to lose (the impulse) it won't all be transmitted to the opposing car.

 

[Dr_Pepper]

If a large car hits a small car and both have the same NCAP rating the large car's occupants will come off better because the small car has been hit by a larger force than the large car has.

 

[The Negotiator]

That is possibly true, however, buying a bigger car doesn't necessarily make you safer, buying a higher NCAP rated car does.

I'd rather crash a modus into a voyager any day of the week than a voyager into a modus at 50mph.

NB: No i am not offering myself to be a crash test dummy.

 

[christopher watson]

the answer to all of this is - buy a chieftain tank

 

[Nuova500]

No not a tank, the real answer is to get a real car, from the 60s or 70s, big and with no crumple zones etc, fit a racing harness and strap yourself in tight. Honest, go to a proper banger race meet, not one of the new regulated ones, and watch an Austin Westminster plough into the back of say a Granada at 40/50 mph, end up in a wall, then someone else in say an old Jag stuff the Austin... 3 cars very very bent but three drivers get out and walk off... no airbags or stuff. Trust me those harnesses do the biz, Ive been racing in the past.

 

[Dr_Pepper]

I'd rather crash a modus into a voyager any day of the week than a voyager into a modus at 50mph.

Well duh, because you said the modus is 5 stars and the voyager is like no stars.

Clearly the larger car thing is another factor not the only one.

 

[Jai]

big old volvo 264 gle....road block and tank all in one, and comfy seats too!

 

[JTD Monkey]

Negotiator is onto something in his earlier post.

Cars can be 'fiddled' to do well on Euro NCAP because it replicates specific incidents, but if the accident you have does not represent the crash they test then there is no way of scoring a car. To be honest, it is a typical league table and means very little (I work in the NHS so should know...).

A 3* car is not unsafe, but in certain types of accident it will not act as well as other cars.

Likewise, most cars tested are LHD so the relevance for RHD can be questionable in some instances (as the bit you hit, i.e. the dashboard, is totally different, as is the bracing and positioning of hard points behind the dashboard).

I wouldn't loose sleep over it. Alfa 147 is a 3* car, Renault Megane is a 5* car: Which one do I want: Well, it 'aint French...

 

[Gav]

The EuroNCAP tests as JTD Monkey says, are just tests, based on possible accidents, but not actually common ones. They drive into concrete to give a level playing field in terms of repoducability. So the 5* cars are all good at crashing into / being hit by concrete blocks. Most people drive cars which are quite different!

I was in what I'd call a mid range accident before I got my Punto. My 1993 Astra was written off, a 3* car, as well as the late 80s Honda (the biggest saloon) that drove infront of me. I hit (couldn't avoid the elderly non-observant driver) the Honda in the side, and spun it round to break the rear axle on a kerbstone. He was going all of 5 mph across me, I'd been going 55mph until 1 sec before so it must have been a collision at 40mph or so (I had replaced my brakes 3 months earlier!).

So what do I think about crash testing etc? Well, frontal impacts, side impacts and rear impacts are important. I'd rather walk away from an accident unhurt than go to hospital, and I'd rather go to hospital than die. Driving with awareness and control is so important (and difficult when its busy) that doing so reduces your chances of the accident in the first place. There's nothing like having a real accident (not some car park ding) to make a driver drive safer. Predicting what others might do, even if they really shouldn't can save you from an accident and therefore all the hassle and wasted time and money. I think a car that handles well, goes well and stops well can avoid the accident when the driver is alert, predicting potential events and capable to maintain control of thier vehicle. Relying on good ABS brakes is not going to stop someone having an accident at some point. So EuroNCAP is far from the be-all-and-end-all of motoring safety.

 

[andy king]

:bang:................................:worship:................

 

[JimMagill]

At least 5th Gear found out what happens when a 5star super mini hits a volvo (sorry Jai, looks like you where wrong)



Jim

 

[dave]

nice spend 4 grand on cars to smash up, but wont pay up the promised money for the kids

 

[JimMagill]

nice spend 4 grand on cars to smash up, but wont pay up the promised money for the kids

oh yeah, I forgot about that

Who can we complain too???

Jim

 

[dave]

Who can we complain too???

Jim

clarkson?

 

[JimMagill]

Got his number?

 

[dave]

dont he write to for a news paper? then you just write a co letter to there? he may want to name an shame the other side, even if he just hints to the name and then give double to show his lot are better

 

[Andy Monty]

The NCAP Test isn't into a concrete wall its into a "deformable barrier"



as it says most manufacturers are building cars to get 5* however its alleged that they are sacrificing other aspects of safety to get the 5* (see 3.05)


then again even 5* isnt fool proof