{"id":4083,"date":"2012-12-12T16:41:26","date_gmt":"2012-12-12T16:41:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/?p=4083"},"modified":"2012-12-12T16:41:26","modified_gmt":"2012-12-12T16:41:26","slug":"euro-ncap-tests-shows-van-safety-standards-lag-behind-cars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/archives\/4083","title":{"rendered":"Euro NCAP Tests Shows Van Safety Standards Lag Behind Cars"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Many current vans lag behind new cars in terms of safety, according to Euro NCAP.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The Euro NCAP organisation, which awards the safety ratings to all new cars, has tested the 8\/9 seat minibus versions of the most popular European vans, and found that many only justify two or three stars. Contrary to what you might think, the vans&#8217; superior size over cars is no guarantee of safety.<\/p>\n<p>In the tests, the\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/c.plma.se\/?q=52854154301586610030\" target=\"_blank\">Ford Transit Custom<\/a>\u00a0was the only vehicle to score five stars. The <a href=\"http:\/\/c.plma.se\/?q=52854154301586610041\" target=\"_blank\">Hyundai H1<\/a> scored three stars. The Fiat Scudo also scored three stars while the\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/c.plma.se\/?q=52854154301586610052\" target=\"_blank\">Renault Trafic<\/a>\u00a0scored two stars. Some of these vehicles are also rebadged and sold by other manufacturers. The\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/c.plma.se\/?q=52854154301586610063\" target=\"_blank\">Fiat Scudo<\/a> is available as the\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/c.plma.se\/?q=52854154301586610074\" target=\"_blank\">Peugeot Expert<\/a>\u00a0and <a href=\"http:\/\/c.plma.se\/?q=52854154301586610085\" target=\"_blank\">Citro\u00ebn Jumpy<\/a>. The Renault Trafic also sells as the Vauxhall\/Opel Vivaro and Nissan Primastar.<\/p>\n<p>You can see highlights of the crash testing in this video:<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/P3cXFEsptqI\" frameborder=\"0\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Dr Michiel van Ratingen, Secretary General of Euro NCAP, said:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cThis time around Euro NCAP has focused on van variants that offer 8 to 9 seats. These vehicles are often used for business or considered by families as alternatives to large MPVs. Being derived from commercial van platforms, these people-carriers are updated less regularly and are generally less equipped for safety than normal passenger cars. If you have a family with a lot of kids and are tempted to buy such a vehicle, please be aware that they often do not offer the latest state of the art in vehicle safety.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Some manufacturers are responding to Euro NCAP\u2019s call and have committed to better equip light commercial vehicles when sold as family cars. The Ford Transit Custom, designed with Euro NCAP\u2019s protocol in mind, features amongst other items curtain airbags that improve protection in the severe pole side impact test. The vehicle also received recognition in Euro NCAP\u2019s Advanced rewards scheme for offering\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/c.plma.se\/?q=52854154301586610108\" target=\"_blank\">Lane Keep Assist,<\/a>\u00a0an important accident prevention technology, as an option to customers.<\/p>\n<p>Fiat has also responded to Euro NCAP\u2019s assessment. The manufacturer is making safety features such as the front passenger airbag and a Speed Limitation Device standard in more European markets. The Scudo\u2019s Peugeot and Citro\u00ebn sister models are doing the same.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>\u201cWe are optimistic that the safety of these vehicles will advance significantly in the next few years,\u201d said van Ratingen. \u201cBy and large this is a neglected vehicle category that from a safety perspective is still immature. Per legislation, these vehicles have never had to be well-equipped with safety technologies. Not all offer electronic stability control as standard and most provide poor protection for vulnerable road users such as pedestrians in the event of a collision.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The protocols used by Euro NCAP to test family and business vans are slightly adapted from those used for passenger cars. The car safety organisation has designed its protocol to encourage greater fitment of safety equipment and to promote all-round protection to car occupants and other road users.<\/p>\n<p>Find out more on the Euro NCAP website: <a href=\"http:\/\/www.euroncap.com\/\" target=\"_blank\">www.euroncap.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Euro NCAP has been testing current van models against the standards used for cars &#8212; and many current van models only manage two or three stars.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[8],"tags":[1553,467,13],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4083"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4083"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4083\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4087,"href":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4083\/revisions\/4087"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4083"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4083"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.vanrental.co.uk\/vanblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4083"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}