Car Safety
It is a legal requirement that all models of new car models should pass a number of safety tests before they can be marketed and these is a minimum legal standard of safety for all new cars. However, most new car models exceed these basic standards.
Euro NCAP stands for the European New Car Assessment Programme and it operates from Belgium. It carries out tests on new car models and published the results. Set up in 1997, it is run by seven European Governments along with motoring and consumer organisations that represent every country in Europe. Although it is not a legal requirement for car manufactures to participate in Euro NCAP most, if not all, do participate.
Euro NCAP tests award ‘star ratings’ depending on how well vehicles perform in a number of crash tests and these include collisions from the front, back and sides along with impacts with pedestrians and impacts with objects such as telegraph poles. The highest rating that can be achieved is five stars. Depending on the tests impact speeds vary from 25 mph up to 40 mph.
The overall effect of Euro NCAP testing has been to increase the safety of cars as the star rating of a car is an important factor for the car buyer who, over recent years, has become far more safety conscious than was the case previously. There are examples of poor performing cars with just a one star rating having such low sales that their manufacturer withdrew them from production; manufacturers tends to be very active in correcting any features on their models that are shown to be a safety risk.
It is important to realize that star ratings refer to the kind of car, and are not comparable between different types of vehicle. Euro NCAP uses the following major vehicle classifications: passenger car, roadster, MPV, off-roader and pickup truck, and secondary classifications depend on the weight of the vehicle.
Although Euro NCAP ratings are voluntary, all vehicles must pass the ˜Whole Vehicle Type Approval™ tests, but these are significantly less severe than Euro NCAP.
If you are not convinced about whether or not you should buy a new car, then why don’t you get a used car instead? Motors.co.uk is the best place to start researching some used cars especially for those who live around Edinburgh area and beyond.
