BRUSSELS: Ford’s iconic muscle-car, the Mustang, has scored a two-star rating for overall safety in Euro NCAP (European New Car Assessment Programme) tests, with concerns about its crash protection of adult and child occupants and a worrying lack of safety equipment commonly available on the European market.
The results reveal the American “DNA” of the Mustang that is designed to score well in the less wide-ranging US consumer tests.
The European variant has seen only those minor updates required to meet European (pedestrian) safety regulation and the Forward Collision Warning system was removed when it was introduced in Europe.
This assessment of the Ford Mustang is based on the vehicle that has been on sale since 2015.
Euro NCAP’s Secretary General, Michiel van Ratingen, said, “Ford did not expect Euro NCAP to test the Mustang and chose not to fit safety technology in Europe which is available to its American consumers, and available on several other sports cars for that matter. Such an attitude to safety should trouble Ford’s customers, whether they are buying a high-powered muscle car or a regular family car.”
In the frontal offset test, the airbags of both the driver and passenger inflated insufficiently to properly restrain the occupants.
In the full-width frontal test, a lack of rear seatbelt pre-tensioners and load-limiters meant that the rear passenger slid under the seatbelt, implying higher risk at abdominal injuries in real life accidents.
In the side impact crash, the head of the 10-year dummy contacted the interior trim bottoming out the curtain airbag.
Ford has informed Euro NCAP that orders placed after May will receive a face-lifted Mustang, which will be launched later in 2017, and will be equipped with Pre Collision Assist (with Pedestrian Detection, Forward Collision Warning and Autonomous Emergency Braking) and Lane Keeping Aid.
Euro NCAP expects to test the safety of this updated model when it is available on the European market.
Michiel van Ratingen said, “We welcome any improvement, of course, and look forward to publishing a new rating for the updated model. However, more fundamental updates may be needed if the Mustang is to get a significantly better result. We therefore hope Ford takes the opportunity to invest in the changes needed now for future Mustang generations.”
