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Achieving a maximum five-star safety rating is something some car manufacturers decide not to chase, according to Euro NCAP.
Certain car brands are sacrificing safety to keep prices low, according to Euro NCAP, but homologation rules will keep all vehicles at a bare minimum safety level believes the organisation.
Speaking to Australian and New Zealand media, Euro NCAP technical director Richard Schram said there are car brands willing to accept a sub-five-star safety score.
“I can’t speak about the Australian market because it does slightly differ than the European, but for the European market, we what see is [for example] Dacia as a brand clearly doesn’t aim for five stars,” Schram said.
“They want to be at the budget [level], but they will aim for three [stars].
“What you will see there is its significantly better than regulation, but they made some clear choices – ‘I’m not going to put this system in because it’s really expensive’.”
While Australia does not field the Dacia brand, one of its models is currently available in the form of the Duster, which is badged as a Renault locally.
Euro NCAP testing has given that vehicle a three-star rating, while its pricing kicks off from $31,990 before on-road costs.
Of note, there are vehicles that are more affordable that have achieved a maximum five-star safety rating, but Dacia’s positioning in Europe is much lower.
Schram said some car brands will keep safety equipment required to hit top marks in more expensive variants, but a dual-rating system is in place to ensure buyers know which is the safer grade.
“We try to counter this slightly as well with what we call the dual rating … it’s not that they don’t know what to do [to get five stars], it’s a clear choice not to put this in as standard, but sometimes they offer it as optional systems,” Schram said.
“And then we can have this double rating that says ‘well, if you’re a conscious consumer, you want to get a Dacia with – I don’t think this is available, but this is an example – a Dacia with five stars, you buy this package, which is not standard.
“Honda did it, Kia is one of them, I know VW is going to go in this direction as well for the smaller vehicles where it is costly.”
The examples mentioned by Schram include the Honda HR-V and CR-V, which only scored five stars for top-spec grades, as well as the Kia K4, which in base form is a four-star car.
Tung Nguyen has been in the automotive journalism industry for over a decade, cutting his teeth at various publications before finding himself at Drive in 2024. With experience in news, feature, review, and advice writing, as well as video presentation skills, Tung is a do-it-all content creator. Tung’s love of cars first started as a child watching Transformers on Saturday mornings, as well as countless hours on PlayStation’s Gran Turismo, meaning his dream car is a Nissan GT-R, with a Liberty Walk widebody kit, of course.
