Fiat Panda branded a 'zero-star car' for safety

Phil Peters

You can dive deep into the Euro NCAP website to read the entire report on the Wrangler, but I'll dish out a few salient details here.

They now track a vehicle's safety systems based on its performance in four main areas: adult occupant protection for driver and passenger, child occupant protection, vulnerable road users protection, and safety assist. The Wrangler achieved 50 percent of the maximum available points for adult occupant protection in a crash, 69 percent for child occupants, 49 percent for pedestrians and 32 percent for safety systems. The European safety organisation invited nine cars: Audi Q3, BMW X5, Hyundai Santa Fe, Jaguar I-Pace, Peugeot 508, Volvo V60 and Volvo S60 for evaluation and the results are on table.

"No matter which Volvo you choose, you can always be sure that you and your loved ones travel in one of the safest cars on the market".

"It is truly disappointing to see a brand-new vehicle being put on sale in 2018 with no autonomous braking system and no lane assistance", said Michiel van Ratingen, the secretary general of Euro NCAP, in a statement.

In the full-width crash test, the rear passenger protection was rated as poor - the lowest rating - while driver chest protection was marginal. "There were a number of issues with the Wrangler in impact testing too, in terms of deformation of the footwell and damage to connecting structures, while the make-up of the dashboard was seen to present a risk to occupants". "It is high time we saw a product from the Fiat-Chrysler group offering safety to rival its competitors", said Michiel van Ratingen, secretary general, Euro NCAP.

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In fact, the Panda has become only the second auto ever to be awarded 0 star rating ever since Euro NCAP was founded in 1997.

Frontal offset crash tests showed poor protection for both head and neck. It does not even offer lane keep assist, speed assistance, autonomous emergency braking as optional features with seatbelt reminder being the only standard safety equipment.

The current Panda has been around since 2011, and was originally awarded a four-star rating when it was new.

The test score, which came out overnight in Europe, showed that the left-hand-drive four-door Wrangler tested scored poorly in one of four categories it was marked under. It scored 45 per cent for adult occupant safety.