Nissan Qashqai and VW ID.5 get TOP marks in Euro NCAP Assisted Driving Tests

The latest Euro NCAP Assisted Driving Test results are out, with the new Nissan Qashqai and VW ID.5 scoring top marks.

We’re all aware of the Euro NCAP tests, where car makers’ latest and greatest models are subjected to a round of increasingly strict crash tests to rate their safety. 

But times move on, and cars now have more and more ‘safety’ systems to aid and control, and Euro NCAP is now testing these systems separately with their Assisted Driving Test results.

The NCAP tests use a series of driving scenarios – like cut-in and cut-out – to see how good a car is at avoiding a crash, looks at how the systems of the car interact with the driver to keep them engaged, and the car’s ability to mitigate the consequences of a crash.

In the latest round of tests, Euro NCAP has tested the new Nissan Qashqai, the VW ID.5, the Polestar 2 and the Jaguar i-Pace. And it’s the Nissan Qashqai which came out on top, but the VW wasn’t far behind.

The Qashqai had almost perfectly matched scores for Driver Engagement and Vehicle Assistance, with the Qashqai’s ProPilot and Navi Link balancing help and driver engagement, scoring 74 per cent on Assistance Competence and an almost perfect 93 per cent on Safety Backup.

The VW ID.5 wasn’t far behind the Qashqai, with NCAP noting it gives the driver a high level of assistance but without promoting over-reliance on the systems. It scored 76 per cent onA assistance Competence and 85 per cent on Safety Backup.

Euro NCAP’s Michiel van Ratingen said:

We have been publishing Assisted Driving gradings for a couple of years now and we are seeing real improvements in system performance. Most manufacturers realise that it is important that drivers enjoy the benefits of assisted driving without believing that they can hand over control completely to the car, and that’s one of the aspects that our assessment considers.

Congratulations to Nissan – the Qashqai is the most affordable car in this group but, with the ID.5, shares the highest rating we have seen so far. It shows that the technology is moving fast and that assisted driving will become part of the mainstream very soon.

The fast-moving pace of technology is highlighted by the tests on the Polestar 2 and Jaguar i-Pace, with the Polestar 2 getting a ‘Good’ rating (the ID.5 and Qashqai are ‘Very Good’ – the top rating) and the even older Jaguar i-Pace just an ‘Entry’ rating (the lowest).

You can check out more detail on Euro NCAP’s Assisted Driving Test results here.