Crash tests help to sell safety

By DAVID LINKLATER

Safety sells these days. Barely a new-car brochure or print advertisement goes by without some reference to it.

This is particularly true of passive safety - how much protection a car gives its occupants in an impact. If a new model performs well in independent crash testing, chances are you'll hear about it loud and clear from the manufacturer.

Carmakers spend vast amounts of money on crash testing when developing new models. Each has specific ideas on what kinds of impacts best represent "real world" accidents, and many different methods are used to achieve them.

There's some truly cutting-edge crash research going on inside car companies. But it's usually the independent programmes that end up in the spotlight.

That's because they allow car buyers to compare the passive safety performance of different makes and models under the same "control" crash circumstances.

The acronym to know at the moment is NCAP, for New Car Assessment Programme. Also often highlighted are tests by the IIHS, or Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.

There's no denying that the NCAP name demands respect all over the world, but it isn't quite the McDonalds of crash testing - at least not yet. There are variations in the programme depending on where the tests take place, which means results are best compared only for cars tested in the same country.

In Australia, the NRMA tests vehicles for ANCAP and since 1999 has adopted EuroNCAP's test procedures, which are under the control of the Federation International de Automobile - the same organisation that governs international motorsport such as Formula One and the World Rally Championship.

In Japan, NCAP is run by the National Organisation for Automotive Safety and Victims' Aid (OSA), while in the US NCAP is organised by the National

Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).

The highly respected IIHS is also based in the US, and crash-tests cars for the insurance industry. The "basic" NCAP frontal impact test involves a 56km/h head-on crash into a rigid block. Afterwards, as with all crash tests, researchers measure the impact on the dummies' heads, chest and legs.

This test is used in Japan and the US, and is effective in evaluating the performances of seatbelts and airbags. However, the deformation and cabin

intrusion of the car is not measured.

EuroNCAP and ANCAP used this test until 1997, when they followed the IIHS's lead with the more realistic "offset" test, where 40 percent of the width of the car on the driver's side strikes the barrier at 64km/h. Two dummies are seated in the car for EuroNCAP and ANCAP, but only one for IIHS.

This test subjects the dummies to less force than the head-on frontal impact, but provides valuable information about crumple zones and cabin deformation.

Most side impact tests involve the front-side of the car being rammed at 50km/h, at right angles, by a trolley weighing nearly a tonne. However, the US NCAP procedure strikes the car at 61km/h in two places, with the trolley's wheels turned 27 degrees to the right.

Another variable for safety-concerned New Zealand buyers is the specification of the vehicles tested. Europeans can look at EuroNCAP and know that the cars tested are relevant to their country. Same in the US and Australia.

But where should Kiwis look? Frontal impact results, for example, are dramatically affected by whether cars have one or two airbags, seatbelt pretensioners or not, and so on. And side airbags, of course, are a major player in side-impact results.

New Zealand distributors source their specification levels from a variety of countries, so safety-conscious Kiwis need to do their research to discover which nation's crash regime has tested the model closest to New Zealand's.

And whether the same applies to its rivals in that country for comparative purposes. Independent programmes like NCAP have their critics.

But what is clear is that comparative crash-testing of this nature has highlighted passive safety for car buyers like never before - and given them some hard facts to help with hard purchasing decisions.