EuroNCAP Reveals Safest New Cars Of 2011

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Tue, 31 Jan 2012

A list of the safest cars tested during 2011 has been revealed by EuroNCAP.

A total of 53 new cars in five different classes were tested under the European car safety performance assessment programme during the 12 months.

The Ford Focus was rated the safest car in the small family class, while the Volvo V60 and Chevrolet Aveo topped the large family car and supermini classes respectively.

The Audi O3 came out top for safety in the small 4x4 category and the Mercedes-Benz B-Class received the top 5 star rating in small MPV class.

EuroNCAP also recognised some of the advanced safety features not yet included in the rating scheme, including Active City Stop, offered in the Ford Focus, the Collision Prevention Assist offered in the Mercedes-Benz B-Class and the City Safety system offered with the Volvo V60 .

"With Euro NCAP Advanced, we have already recognized a number of technologies offering safety benefits to consumers," Dr Michiel van Ratingen, EuroNCAP Secretary General said.

"The safety case for AEB systems is very strong and we are therefore strongly encouraging manufacturers to increase the availability of such systems on new cars ."

"We are well underway to add the assessment of these systems to the overall rating and to make these systems a requirement for five stars in the future."