NCAP (New Car Assessment Program) Overview and Activities (1)

NCAP regional comparison, issues, and latest trends

2023/01/10

Summary
US NCAP
Euro NCAP
IIHS (Insurance Institute for Highway Safety)
JNCAP (Japan)
NCAPs in other regions
Problems with NCAP
Latest NCAP trends

Summary

Following European Euro NCAP and the U.S. IIHS (Insurance Institute for Highway Safety), the NCAP (New Car Assessment Programme) has spread all over the world currently including Australia (ANCAP), Japan (JNCAP), South Korea (KNCAP), China (CNCAP), South America (Latin NCAP), and ASEAN (ASEAN NCAP). It is essential for automobile manufacturers to achieve good results in NCAP in order to be accepted by consumers.

The status of each NCAP is shown in the table below. (Items in red are recent changes.)

Area/Country	Program	Frontal Collision			Side Collision			Rear Collision
Area/Country	Program	Full-overlap collision	Offset collision	MPDB collision	MDB collision**	Pole collision	Far Side collision***	Rear Collision
U.S.	US NCAP	56km/h	-		62km/h	32km/h		-
U.S.	IIHS*	-	64km/h		60km/h	-		16km/h
Europe	Euro NCAP	50km/h		50km/h x 2	60km/h	32km/h	Sled or actual vehicle	24.5km/h
Japan	JNCAP	55km/h	64km/h		55km/h	-		20km/h
Australia	ANCAP	50km/h		50km/h x 2	60km/h	29km/h	Sled	24.5km/h
Korea	KNCAP	56km/h	64km/h		55km/h	32km/h		16km/h
China	CNCAP	50km/h	64km/h		50km/h	-		20km/h
China	C-IASI	-	64km/h		50km/h	-		16km/h
Latin America	Latin NCAP	-	64km/h		50km/h	29km/h		-
ASEAN	ASEAN NCAP	-	64km/h		50km/h	-		-

Note: * In the U.S., safety assessments are conducted by the US NCAP as well as the IIHS (Insurance Institute for Highway Safety). The IIHS conducts offset collision tests at 40% overlap and two types at 25%.
** MDB (Moving Deformable Barrier) collision
*** In Far Side collision, Sled test is performed with MDB and Pole collision pulses.
In Euro NCAP, when there is a center airbag, MDB or Pole is used in Far Side test.
Source: Created from test evaluation criteria of each NCAP and IIHS

Furthermore, the Towards Zero Foundation, an international charity registered in the UK aiming at reducing traffic accidents, promotes Global NCAP as a major project. The organization also supports the implementation of NCAP in emerging markets and holds global conferences to share NCAP best practices. It has recently been working in conjunction with the United Nations Decade of Action for Road Safety (*Note).

*Note: Every few years, the WHO publishes statistics and estimates of global traffic accidents in its Global Status Report on Road Safety, and in addition the United Nations General Assembly has also adopted the “Decade of Action for Road Safety 2021-2030”, an action plan for improving global road safety. Global NCAP is cooperating with this plan.

Since most cars now have the highest rating in most NCAPs, and differentiation, which is the purpose of consumer information, is no longer clear, each NCAP is aggressively introducing new items. The movement is most intense in Euro NCAP.

This NCAP report is divided into two parts. Part 1 explains the characteristics and problems of each NCAP, as well as future trends represented by the Euro NCAP Roadmap 2030. Part 2 will provide details of the test methods, including new items, and a comparison of each NCAP.

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