ALL AUTOCARS

Euro NCAP’s new rating scheme focuses on the vehicle’s overall safety performance which gives consumers an easy to understand single score. The new system considers passenger protection during impact to the front, side and rear of the car, and pole (if the car impacts with a tree or other fixed narrow object). Child protection, pedestrian protection and the availability of driver safety aids are also considered.

NCAP is the highway safety assessor for seven European governments and is sort of like a combination of Consumer Reports and the IIHS in the U.S. Unlike the IIHS, the NCAP says that small cars are very safe. Protection for the driver’s chest was poor but other areas of his body were safeguarded. The Jazz was penalised because forces transferred unrealistically to the dummy’s back and up its spine, reducing measured chest loads.