The independent European safety body Euro NCAP has issued a statement saying the new Dacia Sandero affordable supermini hatchback only deserves a 4-star EuroNCAP safety rating. Let's find out why!
In the frontal impact test, both the passenger and driver dummies saw only marginal protection for the chest. That's not the biggest problem though, in case of a side impact, the chest of the dummy received a lot of damage, which shows the Sandero could have been safer had it received more bracing and airbags.
The seat and head restraints provided marginal protection to the front seat occupants against whiplash injury in the event of a rear-end impact.
As for child protection, the Sandero scored maximum points for its protection of the 18 month dummy, sat in a rearward-facing restraint. Forward movement of the 3 year dummy, sat in a forward-facing restraint, was not excessive in the frontal impact. In the side impact, both dummies were properly contained by the shells of their restraints, minimising the likelihood of dangerous head contact with parts of the car interior.
The Sadero is an affordable car, so a pedestrian protection score of 57%, well within the industry average, is surprisingly good.
The Sandero is fitted as standard with ESC and met Euro NCAP standards. If you'd like to know how it handles the stringent crash requirements imposed by the safety body, check out the two videos below.
Mihnea's favorite cars have already been built, the so-called modern classics from the '80s and '90s. He also loves local car culture from all over the world, so don't be surprised to see him getting excited about weird Japanese imports, low-rider VWs out of Germany, replicas from Russia or LS swaps down in Florida. Full profile
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