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.

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.