The new Volkswagen Arteon has scored top marks in the latest Euro NCAP crash test series. The independent European consumer protection organisation gave Volkswagen’s new fastback model its highest rating of five stars. The rating recognises not only the new Arteon’s occupant protection for adults and children, but also its driver assistance systems fitted as standard and its performance in the area of ‘Pedestrian protection’.
According to Euro NCAP, the Arteon became the highest scoring executive vehicle for pedestrian protection to date thanks in part to the emergency braking function that is also fitted as standard. The overall safety rating of five stars is aggregated from the Arteon’s results in four sub-sections:
- Adult Occupant Protection : 96 per cent
- Child Occupant Protection : 85 per cent
- Pedestrian Protection : 85 per cent
- Safety Assist : 82 per cent
The standard features on the Arteon include seatbelt fastening reminders for all seats, cruise control, the Front Assist area monitoring system with emergency braking function, including for pedestrians, and the lane keeping system Lane Assist.
Here’s the Volkswagen Arteon Euro NCAP crash test video:
The crash test procedures include a range of different collision scenarios and requirements related to occupant and pedestrian protection:
- Frontal crash into an aluminium barrier at 64 km/h (40 mph) and 40 per cent overlap
- Frontal crash at 50 km/h (31 mph) into a rigid barrier with 100 per cent overlap
- Side impact at 50 km/h into the vehicle side structure
- Side pole impact at 32 km/h (20 mph)
- Protection against whiplash in the event of a rear-end collision
- Automatic emergency braking to reduce the speed of any collisions with vehicles and pedestrians or to avoid them completely
The new Arteon has been available to order in Germany since March and comes with an extensive range of safety features. These include airbags for the driver and front-seat passenger (including front-seat passenger airbag deactivation and a knee airbag on the driver’s side) as well as a head airbag system for the front and rear (outer seat) passengers, including side airbags in the front.
Further features, such as safety-optimised head restraints that minimise the risk of whiplash in the event of a rear-end collision and the proactive occupant protection system, which recognises critical situations with increased potential for an accident, tautens seatbelts being worn in the front and closes any open windows and/or sliding roof but for a small gap, are in many countries also fitted as standard.
