With top marks for the new Arteon, Volkswagen has again achieved outstanding results in the latest Euro NCAP crash test series. The independent European consumer protection organisation gave Volkswagen’s new fastback model its highest rating of five stars.
The rating recognises not only the new Arteon’s occupant protection for adults and children, but also its driver assistance systems fitted as standard and its performance in the area of ‘Pedestrian protection’.
According to Euro NCAP, the Arteon became the highest scoring executive vehicle for pedestrian protection to date thanks in part to the emergency braking function that is also fitted as standard.
By giving it their 5-star rating, the experts from the Euro NCAP (European New Car Assessment Programme) have shown that they regard the Arteon as a particularly safe choice in its vehicle class.
This excellent performance results from innovative driver assistance systems (including the emergency braking function to protect pedestrians, fitted as standard) and an integrated safety concept that in the event of a collision provides maximum occupant protection with optimised vehicle body structures and a highly effective safety belt, seat and airbag combination.
The overall safety rating of five stars is aggregated from the Arteon’s results in four sub-sections: in the area of ‘Adult Occupant Protection’, for instance, the new gran turismo achieved 96% of the maximum score. For ‘Child Occupant Protection’ the Arteon gained 85% of the possible points total.
The especially high rating of 85% in the ‘Pedestrian Protection’ category is achieved by the successful combination of the emergency braking function related to pedestrians, which is fitted as standard, and the high passive potential for safeguarding unprotected road users.
In the ‘Safety Assist’ category the 5-star requirements were well exceeded, with the Arteon gaining 82% of the possible points. Incorporated into the assessment here were the numerous standard features, such as seatbelt fastening reminders for all seats, cruise control, the Front Assist area monitoring system with emergency braking function, including for pedestrians, and the lane keeping system Lane Assist.
Euro NCAP has for 20 years been regarded as a strict benchmark for the level of safety of new cars in Europe. Over the intervening years, the crash test procedures have been continually made tougher and now include a range of different collision scenarios and requirements related to occupant and pedestrian protection:
- Frontal crash into an aluminium barrier at 64 km/h and 40% overlap
- Frontal crash at 50 km/h into a rigid barrier with 100% overlap
- Side impact at 50 km/h into the vehicle side structure
- Side pole impact at 32 km/h
- Protection against whiplash in the event of a rear-end collision
- Automatic emergency braking to reduce the speed of any collisions with vehicles and pedestrians or to avoid them completely
The new Arteon has been available to order in Germany since March and comes with an extensive range of safety features. These include airbags for the driver and front-seat passenger (including front-seat passenger airbag deactivation and a knee airbag on the driver’s side) as well as a head airbag system for the front and rear (outer seat) passengers, including side airbags in the front.
Further features, such as safety-optimised head restraints that minimise the risk of whiplash in the event of a rear-end collision and the proactive occupant protection system, which recognises critical situations with increased potential for an accident, tautens seatbelts being worn in the front and closes any open windows and/or sliding roof but for a small gap, are in many countries also fitted as standard.
About the Volkswagen brand: “We make the future real”
The Volkswagen Passenger Cars brand is present in more than 150 markets throughout the world and produces vehicles at over 50 locations in 14 countries.
In 2016, Volkswagen produced around 5.99 million vehicles, including best-selling models such as the Golf, Tiguan, Jetta and Passat.
Currently, 196,000 people work for Volkswagen across the globe. The brand also has 7,700 dealerships with 74,000 employees.
Volkswagen is forging ahead consistently with the further development of automobile production. Key strategic themes for the future are electric mobility, smart mobility and the digital transformation of the brand.
