US NCAP
The US NCAP ( US N ew C ar A ssessment P rogram) is an independent crash test program. It is comparable to the Euro NCAP , but there are some differences in the experimental setup and a larger number of experiments is carried out.
Most US NCAP crash tests are performed by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), a private organization founded by various motor vehicle insurance companies , on the other hand, carries out offset crash tests based on the Euro NCAP model, which it uses to determine risk assessments for various vehicle types.
differences
The listed differences to Euro NCAP can be determined for the various test elements.
Frontal impact
The speed is 56.3 km / h (35 mph) instead of 64 km / h (Euro NCAP), the barrier (representing the other party involved in the accident), unlike the Euro NCAP, is not a deformable barrier, but a rigid one ("concrete wall"). The vehicle hits the barrier with an overburden of 100% (Euro NCAP 40%).
evaluation
The most important features for evaluating the tests carried out by the NHTSA are the Head Injury Criterion (HIC) and the stresses on the chest and thigh bones of the driver and front passenger.
On the basis of the measurement results, the NHTSA prepares a risk assessment for vehicles and, as with Euro-NCAP, assigns a "star" rating to the vehicle from one to five stars. Unlike the Euro-NCAP, the star rating is not a product of a point rating for the stress on individual parts of the body, but rather reflects the probability of a serious injury. With a maximum rating of five stars, the probability of serious injuries is set at less than 5%. The worst rating of one star means a probability of greater than 25%.
Due to the different test arrangements, there are multiple discrepancies between the test results obtained according to US NCAP and Euro-NCAP. The 2006 model of the Chevrolet Aveo received only one star after the Euro NCAP test (a second was subsequently deleted due to the extreme loads), but four after the US NCAP test.
Web links
- Official homepage of the NHTSA
- Official homepage of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety
- US NCAP tests