Ford Mustang Records Shock Two-Star Euro NCAP Safety Score

As Euro NCAP catches up with tests on models it has so far missed out, the Mustang has thrown up a complete surprise with the lowest score from a mainstream car maker in nine years
Ford Mustang Records Shock Two-Star Euro NCAP Safety Score

The Ford Mustang has been given a totally unexpected two-star safety rating by Euro NCAP. It’s the first car from a major manufacturer to score so low for almost a decade, and it’s not ideal for something that’s not that likely to make it to the end of its life without being crashed at least once.

The punishing Euro NCAP tests showed up major issues with airbags not protecting occupants properly, rear passengers slipping beneath seat belts and a lack of active safety technology like autonomous braking systems.

For comparison, the Dacia Sandero scored four of out five stars. In 2013.

Ford Mustang Records Shock Two-Star Euro NCAP Safety Score

In the frontal offset impact test, neither of the front airbags inflated enough to fully protect the occupants, and in the side impact test the ‘10-year-old’ dummy’s head actually squashed right through the under-inflated curtain airbag and hit the door trim.

Thatcham Research’s Director of Research, Matthew Avery, even went as far as to say that the test result “makes it unsuitable for carrying rear passengers.”

“On top this, it does not have basic life-saving technology like Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB) that is available even on the Ford Fiesta, and the recently launched Ford Edge,” he said.

Ford has countered with assertions that the facelifted model, to be released in Europe later this year, will score higher. The newer model will have pre-collision assist and lane-keeping assist as standard.

If you already own one, though, you might want to avoid driving into anything solid.

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Comments

Anonymous

The funny thing is that this is still safer than a cmarro or a challanger as it was showed in earlier test

01/25/2017 - 16:32 |
0 | 0
Piitu

I wouldn’t worry about the occupants safety because we all know mustangs much prefer to crash into pedestrians, not anything solid

01/25/2017 - 16:36 |
0 | 1
Erik Moelker

So what is the difference between NCAP tests and the tests that IIHS and NHTSA perform? Because the Mustang has all 5 star ratings from NHTSA, and Good ratings for everything except small overlap (which is acceptable) on IIHS. Does NCAP emphasize availability of crash prevention systems that heavily? And how did the crash tests work out that poorly compared to American safety testing?

01/25/2017 - 16:56 |
4 | 0

Its the availability of optional crash safety systems. If your car doesn’t have the option of, say, automatic breaking, it gets one star taken off. The Mustang in the EU doesn’t have any of the Radar system or BLIS (ford decided to spend the money on giving us the performance pack and premium interior as standard instead). So the only electronic systems the Mustang has, is ESC, ABS and Seatbelt Reminders. That was enough to give it 16% in the safety systems category and plummet its star rating from 4 to 2.

Its, IMO, really misleading.

01/25/2017 - 18:14 |
2 | 0
TurboManual

Well, there must be some reason it’s so cheap…

01/25/2017 - 17:16 |
0 | 0
Chris Büsch

Came here expecting to see more crowd jokes…

01/25/2017 - 17:48 |
0 | 0
Kei Cars Are My Jam

Would still have one over an M3

01/25/2017 - 18:25 |
0 | 4

You’re a special kind of stupid

01/25/2017 - 20:51 |
4 | 2
Anonymous

no one is gona buy a car like this for safety most of the people dont even care probably

01/25/2017 - 21:16 |
0 | 0
Anonymous

Even my KIA has 5 star NCAP. 2 star is as good as a Chinese fake BMW.

01/25/2017 - 21:47 |
0 | 0
Ben Anderson 1

In reply to by Anonymous (not verified)

The car has good crash ratings. It’s the lack of optional safety equipment like lane keep assist that brought all its scores down. Sitting in the front seats is equivalent to a very good 4/5 star rating.

01/26/2017 - 11:44 |
0 | 0
Anonymous

“You might want to avoid driving into anything solid”
At least crowds at car meets aren’t solid.

01/25/2017 - 23:01 |
0 | 1
Anonymous

Is that 2 stars for the car or the crowd

01/25/2017 - 23:28 |
1 | 0