The European New Car Assessment Programme – our Euro NCAP, as it is commonly called – revamped its safety rating system in 2009, making it more difficult to earn the agency’s highest 5 star rating every year since. Some automakers are coping well with the changes, while others haven’t fared so well.
Jeep’s Compass falls into that latter category, with the compact SUV recently earning a paltry score of just 2 stars in Euro NCAP testing. Despite being equipped with side airbags, the Compass performed poorly in side impact test and received a score of just 23 percent in pedestrian protection. Vehicles need to score at least 60 percent in the pedestrian safety test to earn a 5 star rating.
Honda’s revised Civic, meanwhile, was able to walk away with Euro NCAP’s highest safety rating. The Civic was awarded 5 stars for high marks in all safety categories, and the agency praised the small car for its Collision Mitigation Brake System (CMBS), a radar-based autonomous emergency braking technology.
“The results published today show clearly that a 5 star today means a lot more than a 5 star some years ago,” Michiel van Ratingen, Euro NCAP Secretary General, said in a statement. “Many car makers have moved on and so have we. Cars based on older technology, brushed up and marketed as new are not providing the same levels as safety as the newest models developed against the new targets.”
So far just eight cars have earned 5 star ratings, including the BMW 1-Series, Ford Focus and Nissan Leaf.
