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WATCH: See which cars pass the latest round of Euro crash tests

Munich - Euro NCAP has released safety ratings for nine new cars.

The Ford Fiesta, Jeep Compass, Mazda CX-5, Mercedes-Benz C-Class Cabriolet, Opel Grandland X and Renault Koleos have all been awarded five stars while Opel’s all-electric Ampera-e achieved four.

Kia’s Picanto and Rio both achieve three stars with standard safety equipment but are rated as four and five stars respectively when tested with their optional safety packs..

Side barrier test

Some of this month’s cars demonstrated anlack of restraint robustness in "side-impact testing", says Euro NCAP. "In the pole test of the Jeep Compass, readings in the dummy’s chest indicated injury risk values above the limit to qualify for points, but below those which indicate an unacceptably high risk of life-threatening injury," reports the vehicle testing agency.  

Likewise, in the side-barrier test, the head of the dummy representing a 10-year-old child, seated behind the driver, struck the roof frame in the Mercedes-Benz C-Class Cabriolet as the side airbag did not fully cover the impact area, reports Euro NCAP.  In the same test with the Kia Picanto, the chest of the 10-year-old child was poorly protected. 

Finally, the 7th generation Ford Fiesta joins the Seat Ibiza as the second supermini this year to achieve a five-star rating with standard equipment only. Competitor Kia Picanto did not achieve the same performance in Euro NCAP’s tests, but consumers have the option to purchase the “Advanced Driving Assistance Pack”, available on all variants, to enhance its crash avoidance capabilities.

How the test works: 

Euro NCAP frontal impact takes place at 64km/h, 40% of the width of the car striking a deformable barrier. In the full width test, 100% of the width of the car impacts a rigid barrier at 50 Km/h. In the side impact, a mobile deformable barrier impacts the driver's door at 50 km/h. In the pole test, the car tested is propelled sideways at 32 km/h into a rigid pole.

*We've selected crash test videos of cars either sold or coming to South Africa. Please click here to view all nine clips.

Ford Fiesta - 

Kia Picanto - 

Kia Rio - 

Mercedes-Benz C-Class cabriolet - 

Renault Koleos - 


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