With the majority of company car drivers travelling more miles than the average person, driver safety and in-car safety systems have never been more important and should play a key part in the decision process when choosing your next company car.
Companies have a duty of care to make sure the company car you drive is as safe as possible, but from the choice list, how do you find out which one is best?
A car’s safety is tested, in most cases, by European safety body EuroNCAP who reward each car an overall star rating by running a variety of crash tests and analysing the data. The data is calculated and the overall rating is made up of: adult occupant score (50 percent), child occupant score (20 percent), pedestrian safety (20 percent) and safety assist (10 percent).
Euro NCAP not only tests a car’s crashworthiness, it also takes into account safety equipment and is constantly adding new elements to its tests as technology improves and manufacturers develop new systems.
To help you find the safest company cars currently available to buy, we have put together a list of the seven highest-scoring cars based on Euro NCAP’s crash test results.
1. Volvo V40
A brand made famous for its focus on safety, The V40’s pioneering new technology helps it take top spot with a 98 percent adult occupant rating and a perfect score for safety assist.
The V40 is packed full of the latest safety technology including city safety, knee airbags, dual-stage driver and passenger airbags, curtain airbags, ABS, stability and traction control. The V40 is also the first car to debut a pedestrian airbag system.
The Euro NCAP ratings:
Adult: 98%
Child: 78%
Pedestrian: 88%
Safety Assist: 100%
2. BMW 5 Series
Safety technology is constantly evolving and adapting, with that in mind, it’s quite an achievement that the BMW 5 Series ranks at number two when you consider that the latest generation has been available to buy since 2010.
The 5 Series scored the maximum five-star rating in Euro NCAP testing and is fitted with driver, passenger, front and side airbags and Dynamic Stability Control Plus (DSC+) which includes stability control, traction control, cornering brake control, brake fade compensation and hill start assist.
The Euro NCAP ratings:
Adult: 95%
Child: 83%
Pedestrian: 78%
Safety Assist: 100%
The Vauxhall Mokka scored well across all of the tests, especially in Child Occupancy, scoring the highest out of the top seven.
Highlights from the standard specification include hill start assist, hill descent control and an anti-lock braking and assist system.
The “Front Camera System” pack is available as an option which adds a forward collision alert, lane keeping assist and traffic sign recognition.
The Euro NCAP ratings:
Adult: 96%
Child: 90%
Pedestrian: 67%
Safety Assist: 100%
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Rated as the safest ‘Large Off-Road 4×4’ of 2012 by Euro NCAP, it comes as little surprise to see the Hyundai Santa Fe feature among the safest company cars.
The latest-generation Santa Fe is fitted with an impressive amount of safety equipment, including a new Active Hood System (AHS) which aims to reduce the impact applied to a pedestrian during a collision.
Every New Generation Santa Fe also comes with Hyundai’s Five Year Triple Care which includes five years of vehicle health checks helping to keep all the components and in-car equipment in working order.
The Euro NCAP ratings:
Adult: 96%
Child: 89%
Pedestrian: 71%
Safety Assist: 86%
5. BMW 3 Series
Not to be outdone by its bigger brother, the 3 Series is a dominant force in the company car market and achieved a full five stars in its round of Euro NCAP testing.
The latest-generation 3 Series notched up an impressive 95 percent Adult score and comes with an array of safety features as standard including twin front, side and full-length head airbags and Dynamic Stability Control, which includes traction control.
The Euro NCAP ratings:
Adult: 95%
Child: 84%
Pedestrian: 78%
Safety Assist: 86%
6. Audi A3
Pedestrian protection was a key focus for the Audi engineers when designing the latest A3 and the end result is a specially designed front end and bonnet which is raised in the event of a collision to help reduce the damage and risk of serious injury.
The A3 also comes with a multicollision brake which aims to help reduce the danger of skidding. Standard A3 safety kit includes front seatbelt pretensioners, as well as driver, passenger, side body, head and knee airbags.
The Euro NCAP ratings:
Adult: 95%
Child: 87%
Pedestrian: 74%
Safety Assist: 86%
7. Ford Kuga
In 2012 Ford became the first car manufacturer to achieve a total of seven different Euro NCAP Advanced rewards in recognition of a wide range of technology introduced across a number of its cars.
The new Ford Kuga played a key part in this success and includes some impressive standard and optional safety equipment including myriad airbags, a crash-sensing system, lane departure warning, auto high beam, driver alert and traffic sign recognition.
The Euro NCAP ratings:
Adult: 94%
Child: 86%
Pedestrian: 70%
Safety Assist: 100%