Euro NCAP pushes for ESC through the new rating system

Euro NCAP has officially launched a new overall car safety rating on 18 February 2009 in Brussels. The first six cars rated to the new standards were revealed at the event. The system is a new approach to rating safety performance and will challenge vehicle manufacturers to make all-round safer cars. Under the new system, Safety Assist represents a new area of assessment. This includes Electronic Stability Control, Seatbelt Reminder and Speed Limitation.

While stricter requirements will be introduced increasingly over the next few years, Euro NCAP considers the availability of ESC as very important and as such it has a high and constant weight to the final score over the next years. Euro NCAP’s new rating scheme requires all safety equipment, including ESC, to be standard on 85% of volume sales and at least optionally available on every variant.

Following Euro NCAP’s assessment of the six cars, Mitsubishi and Subaru both committed to changing their ESC fitment policies for the Lancer and Impreza, as variants without optional ESC were offered in some countries. The power of the new scheme is already evident as these manufacturers evaded a downgraded result by making ESC optional on all variants.

Michiel van Ratingen, Secretary General of Euro NCAP acknowledged the fact that the new rating scheme is more challenging in some areas, but he referred to this as “smart pressure”. During his speech at the launching event, Mr. van Ratingen also stressed the importance of users being informed about car safety and included the "ESC On Board" logo in his presentation.

More information on the new rating system can be found here.