Renault Zoe awarded zero-star Euro NCAP safety rating

The Renault Zoe has grow to be only the 3rd auto in Euro NCAP history to be awarded zero stars for crash basic safety. The former model of the common electric powered hatchback received a five-star rating in 2013, but many thanks to additional stringent basic safety tests and the omission of specific basic safety functions, the most recent design scored improperly.

The Zoe did not fare perfectly in the frontal offset crash take a look at, with Euro NCAP citing inadequate defense of the driver’s chest region. It carried out even worse in the aspect pole take a look at, nonetheless, which simulates hitting a tree or lamppost aspect-on. According to Euro NCAP, a 3rd of these incidents are really serious or fatal, and the pole struck the take a look at dummy’s head when screening the Zoe.

A critical element in the Zoe’s inadequate functionality is the removal of a head airbag, which guards occupants from aspect impacts. Renault launched this type of airbag in 2001 with the Laguna two, which grew to become the initial auto to attain a five-star Euro NCAP rating. The Zoe’s forty three% grownup occupant basic safety score is the lowest in the previous 11 many years of screening.

Renault has unveiled a assertion in reaction to the Zoe’s outcomes, emphasising that when the auto attained a even worse star rating than the former design, this can be attributed to modifications in the Euro NCAP assessment regime due to the fact 2013:

“Renault normally takes observe of the outcomes released by Euro NCAP pursuing unique tests on Zoe E-Tech Electric in accordance to its new protocol implemented in 2020. 1st of all, Renault reaffirms that Zoe E-Tech Electric is a risk-free auto, which complies with all regulatory basic safety criteria. These criteria are continuously evolving and are starting to be additional stringent in all domains, in particular in basic safety. Renault for that reason regularly increases its offer in get to comply with the restrictions applicable wherever its motor vehicles are bought.”

It continues: “Zoe was launched in 2013 and received five stars with Euro NCAP protocol at that time. The Euro NCAP protocol has due to the fact 2013 been through five modifications. With the exact same machines, a design can get rid of up to two stars in every single protocol transform.”

In Euro NCAP’s basic safety guide assessment, the Zoe scored 14%, which is sixty one% lower than the typical this year. On the other hand, Renault pointed out that: “The evolution of the present Zoe was determined in 2017 adapting the passive basic safety machines to serious accidentology and updating the auto with state of the art ADAS equipments this kind of as Innovative Emergency Braking with Pedestrian and Bike owner Detection, Lane Departure Inform and Lane Trying to keep Help, utilizing a radar and a digital camera.”

Somewhere else in the Renault group staple, the Dacia Spring EV, which could arrive in the British isles subsequent year, also scored improperly, with a just one-star rating. Testing revealed a prospect of significant chest compression and a scarcity of leg and pelvis defense during frontal impacts, resulting in an grownup occupant defense score of (49%). Crashes could result in really serious head and neck injuries for boy or girl occupants, way too.

There have been some potent performers this year, nonetheless. The BMW iX scored five stars, with an amazing grownup occupant defense result of 91%. The Genesis G70 and GV70 also received major marks, continuing the brand’s a hundred% document of five-star automobiles as a result considerably. The Mercedes EQS attained the maximum grownup occupant defense rating of all in 2021, scoring ninety six%.

Find out how auto basic safety has improved more than the many years…