Euro NCAP Safety Tests: Trials Road Cars go through before they Receive a Star Rating

Abstract

Road safety is an issue of major importance in European Union policies, with the main objectives of reducing/eliminating road accidents, reducing/eliminating road casualties and fatalities, and increasing the level of safety and comfort for all road users. The scientific paper presents a concrete research carried out by the authors in order to implement some technical concepts, so that those interested in this field can become acquainted with a certain way of presenting the problems of the safety tests carried out by the European organization for road safety assessment Euro NCAP, established in 1996, based in Louvain, Belgium, the first results of the tests carried out on road vehicles were published in February 1997. In this way, readers can learn about how European organizations interpret the number of stars in road vehicle safety tests, the scales of results for awarding safety stars, the evidence of Euro Ncap tests and levels of protection for adult and child road users, the protection of vulnerable road users (motorcyclists, cyclists, pedestrians) and the conditions for testing the effectiveness of safety systems fitted by manufacturers on road vehicles. It is then presented, the Euro NCAP assisted driving of road vehicles, quadricycle ratings of road vehicles, Euro NCAP tests for trucks and a case study on Euro NCAP tests for the Romanian off-road car, Dacia Duster 3rd generation. The conclusions of the scientific research are presented at the end of the paper.