Safety’s choice – need advice on the safest cars? Read our Q&A for guidance on using safety guidelines when choosing a car.

Modern cars are safer than they have ever been with features like airbags and door beams; surely it doesn’t matter which one I choose?

Wrong. Choosing one particular type of car over another can significantly influence your chances of surviving a car accident.

Just because your car is new or big doesn’t automatically make you safer than other road users who drive older or smaller cars.

How do I know whether or not my car, or the car I am planning to buy, is safe?

In Europe the best way of determining this is to log onto www.euroncap.com.

Euro NCAP (European New Car Assessment Programme) is an independent body established in the mid 1990s to independently appraise the safety of cars sold in the European Union.

Originally the Euro NCAP was developed by the British Transport Research Laboratory for the British Department of Transport but other organisations soon became involved.

Various governments, the German motoring body ADAC, governing body of world motor sport the FIA and European consumer groups are now all part of the Euro NCAP organisation. The EU commission is an observing member.

What use is Euro NCAP to me?

Euro NCAP is a completely independent organisation. They acquire new cars either anonymously or randomly from the car manufacturers.

They then subject the cars to a series of crash tests to determine how effective the vehicle is at protecting its occupants in the event of a crash.

But surely the EU has safety standards that cars have to adhere to?

Yes, there is a basic requirement for cars sold in the European Union.

However the tests conducted by Euro NCAP are more stringent and the test results are published.

The EU doesn’t publish its crash test results.

Is there anywhere else I can go to get independent information on how safe a car is?

Other information on how well cars perform in independent studies is not easy to come by.

American organisations such as Consumer Reports magazine (www.consumerreports.org) publish independent data as does the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

However, both these organisations test cars that are technically different to European.

What does Euro NCAP crash testing involve?

Manufacturers are told which car is being tested and with what features. They are allowed to observe the tests and comment on whether or not they think the tests were conducted satisfactorily.

The frontal impact test is conducted to 64km/h (40mph). A vehicle is driven into a deformable barrier, which represents another vehicle coming the opposite direction. The impact area is offset; only 40% of the width of the front of the car bears the force of the impact as this is most representative of collisions that take place on European roads.

The side impact test involves the vehicle being propelled into a rigid pole at 29km/h (17mph). The pole is only 245mm in diameter so there is serious stress put on the side of the vehicle’s body shell.

The final test conducted is the pedestrian safety test, which is the most recent addition to the testing procedure. Objects are fired at various points at the front of the vehicle to determine how effective these points are at protecting adult or child pedestrians in the event of being struck by the car.

All of the tests are photographed, special crash test dummies (called Euro SID) are used and all the data is gathered and used to give the car a star rating.

What are the safest cars according to Euro NCAP?

Renault produces the greatest number of five-star, top-scoring cars according to Euro NCAP.

However, more and more manufacturers now boast a five-star car in their line up and every new round of crash testing sees another model receiving five stars.

The new Fiat Bravo is a five-star car, as is the Toyota Corolla saloon and Toyota Auris hatchback. The current Ford Focus is one of the safest cars in its class according to Euro NCAP while the diminutive Peugeot 1007 is one of the safest cars they have ever tested.

Increasingly, manufacturers are expected to get five stars in crash tests. The Fiat Grande Punto, Opel Corsa, Peugeot 207, Renault Clio, Renault Modus and Toyota Yaris are all five-star cars.

All of the crash test results, even results for obsolete models, are posted on the NCAP website.

What hasn’t performed as well?

The worst-performing car in the history of Euro NCAP was the Rover 100.

The 100 was basically a tarted-up Metro, designed to give struggling MG/Rover a small car to sell. However, it made headlines in 1996 when it scored a miserable one star, although Euro NCAP stated at the time that a little improvement could move it into the two-star category.

According to the organisation’s website: “The Rover suffered excessive deformation of the passenger compartment in the frontal impact – the A-pillar on the driver's side was pushed back by 488mm – and the structure became unstable.”

Older cars don’t perform as well as newer designs. The original Fiat Punto is a two-star car whereas the current model was awarded five stars, though some modern models haven’t performed as well.

The new Chrysler Voyager scored two stars with a strike through the second star (the strike through signifies that an extra star would be awarded with minimal modifications to the car) as does the new Chevrolet Aveo saloon although the Chevrolet performs well in both pedestrian protection and both scored well in child passenger protection.

So, cars are getting safer?

Certainly, although Euro NCAP and car manufacturers still face challenges.

Pedestrian protection is generally poor even among strong-scoring cars. Both the Toyota Corolla saloon and Honda Legend achieve three stars for pedestrian protection which signals that this is one area where modern cars are still underperforming.

The improved secondary safety in cars has led to people surviving more accidents, but with serious injuries.

Also, some manufacturers quietly question the motivation for gaining five stars. It has been said that engineers are more concerned with gaining a headline-grabbing five stars rather than actually building cars that are safe in the real world.

With an increasing number of cars gaining five stars (three out of the five cars tested in the last round gained top scores), it is also being argued that it is time to move the tests on again and make it even harder for cars to gain the full five stars.

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