THE European consumer test organisation Euro NCAP has for the first time ever assessed the safety of extra-heavy commercial trucks. Volvo Trucks’ best-selling models, the Volvo FH and the Volvo FM, both received the top rating of five stars. The Volvo FM also had the best overall test result among all tested trucks.
The Volvo FM and the Volvo FH Aero scored the maximum five stars in Euro NCAP’s first assessment of truck safety, who also gave both Volvo models their City Safe award.
“This outstanding result makes me so proud as it confirms Volvo Trucks’ leading position in safety”, says Roger Alm, president Volvo Trucks. “Safety is a core value for us and a cornerstone in our heritage. It has been guiding us from the very start of our company – and with every new product launch we are making our trucks even safer.”
Euro NCAP’s five-star rating means that Volvo Trucks has shown excellent performance on criteria such as driver support and collision avoidance, delivering traffic safety for the driver and surrounding road users. Additionally, both Volvo models fulfil the so-called City Safe criteria, thanks to good vision and good performance of Volvo Trucks’ active safety systems, designed to protect vulnerable road users in city traffic situations.
“This is proof of our consistent efforts in safety developments to go beyond what is required by legislation, towards our vision of zero accidents involving our trucks”, says Anna Wrige Berling, traffic and product safety director, Volvo Trucks. “Euro NCAP ratings will guide customers in their purchase decisions as well as challenge vehicle manufacturers to continuously work to improve safety.”
The same safety standards are available on Volvo trucks in South Africa, even though not all equipment is required by local legislation. The company continues to invest resources, skills and knowledge to increase road safety and subsequently protect other road users as much as possible.
Facts on Euro NCAP:
The European New Car Assessment Program (Euro NCAP), based in Belgium, was first established in 1996 and quickly became the European industry standard for assessing the safety of passenger cars. It is supported by multiple European governments, including the European Union.
As for the truck test, each safety system was given a score, which was aggregated for each area. These scores were then used to calculate a star rating of one to five stars for the whole vehicle.
The scope of the truck test was as follows:
- Safe driving: Occupant monitoring, vision (both direct and indirect) and vehicle assistance (e.g. speed assistance)
- Collision avoidance: Frontal collisions (car, pedestrian and cyclist), low speed manoeuvring collisions and lane departure collisions
- Post-crash: Rescue information.
Euro NCAP’s aim is to gradually expand the test scope to also include crash protection at a later stage, as well as testing trucks in different transport segments.
