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Euro NCAP Celebrates 20 Years Of Crash Tests

Founded in 1997 by the Transport Research Laboratory, Euro NCAP is synonymous with car safety. Based in Brussels and backed by multiple governments and the EU, the European new car safety performance assessment program decided to celebrate its 20th anniversary with an oh-so gut-wrenching crash test.
Euro NCAP Marks 20th Anniversary of Life-Saving Crash Tests 21 photos
Photo: Euro NCAP
Euro NCAP Marks 20th Anniversary of Life-Saving Crash TestsEuro NCAP Marks 20th Anniversary of Life-Saving Crash TestsEuro NCAP Marks 20th Anniversary of Life-Saving Crash TestsEuro NCAP Marks 20th Anniversary of Life-Saving Crash TestsEuro NCAP Marks 20th Anniversary of Life-Saving Crash TestsEuro NCAP Marks 20th Anniversary of Life-Saving Crash TestsEuro NCAP Marks 20th Anniversary of Life-Saving Crash TestsEuro NCAP Marks 20th Anniversary of Life-Saving Crash TestsEuro NCAP Marks 20th Anniversary of Life-Saving Crash TestsEuro NCAP Marks 20th Anniversary of Life-Saving Crash TestsEuro NCAP Marks 20th Anniversary of Life-Saving Crash TestsEuro NCAP Marks 20th Anniversary of Life-Saving Crash TestsEuro NCAP Marks 20th Anniversary of Life-Saving Crash TestsEuro NCAP Marks 20th Anniversary of Life-Saving Crash TestsEuro NCAP Marks 20th Anniversary of Life-Saving Crash TestsEuro NCAP Marks 20th Anniversary of Life-Saving Crash TestsEuro NCAP Marks 20th Anniversary of Life-Saving Crash TestsEuro NCAP Marks 20th Anniversary of Life-Saving Crash TestsEuro NCAP Marks 20th Anniversary of Life-Saving Crash TestsEuro NCAP Marks 20th Anniversary of Life-Saving Crash Tests
The red car in the adjacent video is a 1997 Rover 100, a B-segment hatchback that’s based on the 1980 Austin Metro. Make no mistake about it, the 100 was an awful car back then and it’s awful by today’s standards as well.

The yellow-painted supermini, meanwhile, is a Honda Jazz. Known as the Fit in the U.S., the Jazz prides itself on a top-notch reliability record, an exceptionally versatile interior for its class, and a well-equipped base model. The rev-happy 1.5-liter N/A VTEC engine is another highlight of the Jazz.

Two decades set the Rover and Honda apart, and boy does this show in terms of crash safety. Back in 1997, the 100 was rated one star for adult occupant protection and two stars for pedestrian protection. The Jazz, by stark contrast, is a five-star prizewinner with a 93 percent rating for adult occupant protection. It’s pretty obvious, then, that the 100 and Jazz are worlds apart.

“We want to ensure that Europe’s roads get even safer in the next 20 years,”
said Michiel van Ratingen, a man who’s card secretary general of the Euro NCAP. “We already test many more aspects of a car’s safety than we did when we started in 1997, and that is set to continue," he added.

On its 20th anniversary, the peeps over at Euro NCAP would also like people to know that approximately 78,000 lives have been saved thanks to the program, a number based on the 2016 ETSC PIN Report. This figure might be debatable for the skeptics among us, but just about 630 published safety ratings and an estimated 1,800 crash-tested cars don’t lie.

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About the author: Mircea Panait
Mircea Panait profile photo

After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well.
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