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Looking to buy a new car? The #STOPTHECRASH campaign is urging you to ask three key life-saving questions before choosing which one to buy…
1. What Euro NCAP test rating does this car have?
2. Is Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB) fitted to this car – and is it standard?
3. What else should I do to maximise the safety protection offered by this car?
Four major automotive companies have joined forces at the London Motor Show (May 6-8) as part of the Global NCAP #STOPTHECRASH partnership.
By highlighting these questions, Thatcham Research, Bosch, Continental and ZF TRW hope to help reduce the annual UK toll of 100,000 rear end crashes and to make certain that consumers get the highest level of safety on their next car.
The evidence in favour of AEB is unequivocal, say campaigners. A 2015 Euro NCAP report found that Autonomous Braking systems were responsible for a 38% reduction in real-world rear-end crashes.
However, AEB is currently only standard fit on 17% of new cars currently on sale in the UK.
Find out which new cars are fitted with AEB on the Thatcham Research website.
Tyre safety
The importance of tyres – the only point of contact between vehicles and the road – is also highlighted.
Representatives from Continental will be on hand at the London Motor Show to demonstrate the effect that low tread depth can have. The UK legal limit for tread depth is 1.6mm, yet tests show tyres only perform at 55% efficiency with this amount of wear.
Continental recommends replacing tyres when tread depth reaches 3mm as a responsible compromise between safety, economics and driver confidence, and is focused on educating drivers on the reasons why this is important.
Research indicates that 40% of drivers have never checked the tread of their tyres, choosing instead to wait for a service, while 20% admit that they do not even know how to carry out a tyre check.
