The world may not be too far into the year 2012, but that hasn’t stopped Europe’s most prestigious vehicle safety outfit from upgrading its thinking. Just like the NHTSA and IIHS’s crash testing here in the U.S., the Euro New Car Assessment Program (NCAP)has made it even more difficult for manufactures to earn the ultimate safety rating. Placing and even higher importance upon pedestrian safety, the new crash testing protocol meant new titles to be earned and or re-earned. After the dust settled, the all-new Ford Ranger compact truck rolled away with its previous achievement still in hand: Europe’s only Five Star rated truck and thus, safest pickup.
“Our scoring system has been revised to place even greater emphasis on the importance of pedestrian protection. The new Ford Ranger is the only vehicle in its class to achieve the marks we now demand of a five star safety rated vehicle,” said Euro NCAP spokesman Michiel van Ratingen. Energy absorbing materials were used in the construction of the Ranger’s front bumper. Ford engineers also made sure that the structure underneath the hood was specially laid out to reduce head injuries if a pedestrian was to be hit. Not only did the truck return another top ranking, the compact Focus took another five star rating under the new scoring system.
Source: Ford
