The Euro NCAP crash test, which is like the CAT exam to cars, is now getting tougher. With the major thought of bigger cars fatal destruction to smaller cars has been inevitable. But the norms can change a lot in the future.
Started as a safety test for vehicles, mostly 4-wheelers. The test rates the cars on a scale of 1-10. These include frontal direct collision, side-impact due to collision, side-impact pole test. Since 1997 they have been like the most prestigious certification of safety.
With the latest norms, the Euro NCAP could include tougher assessments introduced that will penalize bigger cars. If they are judged likely to damage smaller cars disproportionately. A new deformable barrier will be used and this one won’t be static. To get a better reflection of real-world collisions, the barrier will be dynamic at the speed of 50km/h rather than being static.
Matthew Avery, director of research at Thatcham Research, and a board member of Euro NCAP said, “The objective is to encourage makers of larger vehicles to share some of the burdens of the impact with smaller vehicles. Historically SUVs and other big cars have offered very good protection to their occupants. However, the smaller vehicles they sometimes crash into can fare less well.
In addition to the above, a new, sophisticated crash-test dummy – dubbed THOR (Test device for Human Occupant Restraint) – has been introduced, with the new dummy more closely mimicking the behavior of humans in collisions.
Thus more changes will be soon introduced making the 4-wheelers safer for the passenger as well as the other party involved during a collision. Do you agree with these new changes, let us know in the comments…