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News of July 17, 2002

Top safety ranking for VW models in US consumer test

Golf and Passat win their class in the Consumer Report safety test

Passat air bag system

Photo: VW

Wolfsburg - "Which cars are safer?" was the question that the American consumer-protection magazine 'Consumer Report' looked at in its issue "The 2002 Cars". To answer this question, accident avoidance and crash safety test results for 85 cars were examined.

In the accident avoidance category the factors tested were braking performance, handling in a risk situation, acceleration, seated position and view from the driver's seat. Seat comfort, although not of primary importance, was also considered as a safety factor, since as the magazine sees it, a driver who is tired or uncomfortable is unable to concentrate properly on the traffic situation.

The crash safety ranking combines the results obtained by the American public authority NHTSA (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration) and the IIHS (Insurance Institute for Highway Safety), a body set up by American insurance companies.

The NCAP (New Car Assessment Program) test procedure applied by the NHTSA consists of two crash tests. For the frontal collision, the vehicle is propelled against a fixed barrier at a speed of 54 km/h. There is also a side-on crash in which a deformable barrier weighing 1368 kg is forced into the side of the car. In the IIHS test, the car is positioned with 40 percent overlap in relation to a deformable barrier, which it strikes at 64 km/h.

In order to reach a conclusion on the car's overall level of safety, the crash safety and accident prevention results are combined by a compatible method to yield an overall result. In the small-car class the Volkswagen Golf and in the family sedan class the Passat both headed their lists, with the Bora and New Beetle occupying positions three and four in the small-car category.

Volkswagen is dedicated to an ongoing process of safety enhancement: the most recent example of this is the adoption of head airbags as standard equipment in the Golf and Bora on July 1 of this year.

(July 10, 2002)

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