Four organisations from across Europe – including Germany’s largest vehicle inspection company Dekra, the German Insurance Association (GDV), and the Automobile clubs of Austria (ÖAMTC), and Switzerland, TCS – have officially joined the European New Car Assessment Programme (Euro NCAP) as affiliate members.
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Dekra joins the programme to support new initiatives on commercial vehicle safety. For many decades, the Dekra Accident Research team has been involved in analysing real-life crashes, including those involving commercial vehicles. Dekra’s own independent Technology Test Center will be an important building block for translating these findings of accident research into measures to increase road safety.
GDV, notably the German Insurers Accident Research Unit (UDV), aims to improve road safety in Germany and helps to prevent accidents or at least mitigate the effects of crashes. By providing up to date accident data and the outcome of safety research, UDV supports Euro NCAP’s protocol development and long-term strategy, especially regarding the human factors and driving functions for assisted and automated vehicles.
Automobile clubs ÖAMTC and TCS have joined the new “Green NCAP” initiative as supporter and emission test facilities, in cooperation with their test partners IFA and EMPA, respectively. Both organizations have longstanding experience and excellent test expertise with regards to technical compliance emissions and pollutants testing and have been involved in crafting the unique Green NCAP test and assessment protocols from the beginning. The affiliate membership formalizes their respective roles, enabling them to effectively drive vehicle improvements and create value for their members.
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Euro NCAP Chairman and President, Pierre Castaing, said: “I am delighted to formally welcome four leading European organizations to the Euro NCAP consortium. These new partners represent a variety of sectors and each of them is championing strengths in their own area of expertise, bringing a depth of experience and ideas to help Euro NCAP realize our goal of safer and cleaner vehicles.”
Jann Fehlauer, Managing Director of Dekra Automobil, said: “Dekra has been working on commercial vehicle safety ever since its foundation more than 90 years ago. Improving road safety has been at the heart of our daily work since 1925. So when Euro NCAP was looking for support in the field of truck safety, it was immediately clear that we were going to contribute whatever we can for the common goal. We are convinced that our participation in Euro NCAP’s push for truck safety will add some considerable weight to the efforts.”
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Siegfried Brockmann, Head of German Insurers Accident Research at GDV, said: “We are happy to be part of the Euro NCAP safety family. For us, safer vehicles are one key factor to improve road safety. In this context, Euro NCAP plays an important role in bringing modern vehicle safety technology to the market in a quick way. Therefore it needs high-quality accident data and safety research. GDV will support with this data and contribute its part to a safe traffic system.”
Max Lang, Vehicle Safety and Environmental Expert at ÖAMTC, said: “Next to vehicle safety, environmental protection plays a big role in our work here at the ÖAMTC. With the introduction of the Green NCAP, we have taken a big step towards creating consumer transparency about vehicle emissions and their environmental impact. But our path doesn’t end here – as we move into the future, we’re committed to developing additional tools like life cycle analysis, helping us evaluate a vehicle’s ecological footprint in its entirety.”
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Laurent Pignot, Head of Communications at Touring Club Switzerland, said: “More and more consumers pay close attention to the ecological aspects when buying a vehicle. Parallel to the continuous tightening of legal regulations for vehicles, consumer tests that go beyond the legal requirements can be a real added value by ensuring greater transparency and clarity. This is exactly what Green NCAP offers. For this reason, the TCS, as a member of the consortium, supports the Green NCAP goals and, as one of the test laboratories, the collection of the data.”
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