World's safest cars for 2011 revealed by testers

Euro NCAP – the independent European car safety research organisation – has published its ratings for 2011 and particular bouquets go to Chevrolet, Mercedes and Ford. We dust off the fusion-powered CSMA Gold-Envelope-Opening Robot to announce the best in class as:

•    Small off-road 4×4 category: Audi Q3
•    Supermini category: Chevrolet Aveo
•    Small Family category: Ford Focus
•    Small MPV category: Mercedes B Class
•    Large Family category: Volvo V60

All achieved a five-star rating and showed good scores in each of Euro NCAP’s four assessment areas. Also complimented in despatches were the Chevrolet Malibu, Mercedes M Class, Toyota Yaris, Lexus CT200h, Vauxhall Zafira Tourer, Hyundai ix20, and BMW X1. And gaining a special mention was the Ford Ranger – the safest pick-up yet tested by the organisation, scoring highly in all areas of assessment, most notably pedestrian protection.

With electrons becoming an increasingly popular eco-fuel, Euro NCAP also released its first four test results for electric vehicles. Plug-in vehicles are exposed to the same test conditions as conventional counterparts, but special attention is paid to battery integrity after a crash – nice to know, given the less-than-nice chemicals and risk of fire. The Nissan LEAF was the first of its kind to achieve 5 star overall rating – making it one of this year’s best small family cars overall.

Another nice-to-know for foot-powered road-users: the next batch of results, in a year’s time, will reflect stricter standards, increasing the minimum score in the pedestrian assessment from 40 per cent to 60 per cent.

Full safety stats on cars are available at www.euroncap.com.

Crash test photo: istockphoto.com