When it comes to safety, vans have historically played second fiddle to their passenger car equivalents, with with many vehicles getting the absolute bare minimum in terms of protection. All the while passenger car safety improves as more equipment is released and tests get stricter. Up until fairly recently even the best vans have had to make do with a single airbag at best.
Mercifully this is starting to change, thanks largely to new EU laws on the matter, but also aided by Euro NCAP’s introduction of commercial vehicle safety ratings. The latter actually came first, having been introduced in 2021 but it was the EU General Safety Regulation (GSR2) that arrived in July 2024 that mandated higher levels of safety kit for all new vehicles. This has effectively dragged manufacturers kicking and screaming to a safer future by insisting on more tech.
Euro NCAP is pushing for slightly tougher standards still, it says, but despite this, the assessments it carries out are not as thorough as the equivalent ones for cars. The testers simply assess vans for their safety assist equipment rather than putting the vehicles through the same rigorous crash testing as their passenger siblings.
Originally the system differed to the car one, as vans were given a colour-coded equivalent, with Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum all possible. Those that perform really badly, though, get a simple ‘Not Recommended’. However, for 2025 the scoring system was changed to mirror that for cars, with star ratings introduced to make it clearer. However, it’s important to note that the actual assessment process hasn’t changed, though, with Euro NCAP still only rating the crash avoidance systems and not actually crashing the vehicles.
Euro NCAP has updated its scores as a result of this change, with 19 vans now getting the top score and programme director Euro NCAP Dr Aled Williams saying: ‘By introducing Euro NCAP’s familiar and proven, easy-to-understand star ratings for light commercial vehicles, we are making it simpler for fleet operators and small business owners to make informed purchasing decisions and pick the safest vans for themselves or their colleagues, at a time when there is growing choice in the market.’
What was introduced in 2024?
As of July 2024, all new vehicles must comply with the EU General Safety Regulation (GSR2). This requires much more in the way of safety and driver assistance technology.
This mandates the fitment of a range of safety kit. All vehicles including cars and vans must now be fitted with intelligent speed assistance, reversing detection with either a camera or sensors, attention warning in case of driver drowsiness or distraction, event data recorders and an emergency stop signal. Cars and vans also need to come with lane keeping assist and automated braking.
How have the results changed?
In 2021, Euro NCAP assessed 19 vans, which accounted for the vast majority of the vehicles sold in the European market. The Ford Transit, the Mercedes-Benz Vito and the Volkswagen Transporter 6.1 were all given Gold awards while the Fiat Talento, Opel/Vauxhall Movano, Nissan NV400, Renault Master and Renault Trafic were all marked as ‘not recommended.’ No vans hit the top standards required to get a Platinum rating.
In 2022 things improved slightly, with only the Nissan NV400 (now the Interstar) rated as not recommended while the Fiat Ducato stepped up from Gold to Platinum.
The Ducato lost its Platinum rating for 2023, but this was down to the stricter ratings rather than a change to the van’s offering but it remained the highest rated vehicle in the list. The Interstar retained its position at the foot of the table.
The 2024 changes saw the biggest leap, though, with 14 getting the top Platinum rating, and only one van now – the LEVC VN5 – getting a Silver, and everything else being ranked higher. When the star ratings were introduced in 2025 the number of vans getting a top score rose to 19.
The below list looks at the top-rated of the vans on in the list. To judge which scored highest we took the Safe Driving, Crash Avoidance and Post Crash Safety percentages and sorted the list by the average score. We have also grouped together those which are fundamentally the same van, on the basis that that’s what Euro NCAP does by testing one van and attributing the same result to its closely related siblings.
There are other vans that managed a five-star rating, but didn’t get as high an overall average as those below. To see the full list, head to Euro NCAP’s website.
10. Farizon SV – 75% average score
The Farizon SV is the highest rated of all the new breed of Chinese vans, which tend to take a rather intrusive approach to their safety systems. This is definitely the case with the Farizon, which loves a bonging noise and isn’t afraid to use it to warn you about all kinds of different actions.
Despite being a newbie, it’s already recorded an impressive 85% Crash Avoidance rating from Euro NCAP. The only area where it fell short was speed assistance, with no active speed limiter fitted as standard, which is where it cost some points.
9. Volkswagen Caddy / Ford Transit Connect – 76% average score
8. Nissan Interstar/Renault Master – 76.3% average score
Two vans, one result – the all-new Nissan Interstar and Renault Master are fundamentally the same vehicle, so they share safety systems and resultant Euro NCAP score. This is good news as the previous Interstar was a holder of an undesired ‘Not recommended’ rating.
These are totally different vehicles to that Interstar, though, and the five-star rating will be welcome at both companies. They are scored well across the board, although are missing some kit such as pedestrian detection add adaptive cruise control
7. Volkswagen ID.Buzz Cargo – 76.3% average score
The Volkswagen ID.Buzz Cargo is possibly the most interesting van currently available, with its retro-inspired styling, excellent driving manners and long electric range working in its favour.
It’s also impressive when it comes to safety according to Euro NCAP, and boasts an 76.3% average rating. Full marks were recorded for its occupant status monitoring, but adequate ratings for the autonomous emergency reaction to pedestrians and cyclists stopped it from being rated higher.
6. Mercedes-Benz Citan / Renault Kangoo – 77.7% average score
The Mercedes-Benz Citan and Renault Kangoo are proof that not all co-developed vans are equal. While this pair manage the top five-star score with an impressive 77.7% average rating, the Nissan Townstar’s kit choices mean it only gets four stars.
This is down to a lack of any driver monitoring tech, which was absent on the vehicle used for the Nissan’s assessment. As an indication of how odd these processes are, the vehicle used for the Nissan’s test was a Renault Kangoo, but the Renault has since been retested and upgraded to a five-star score, so this might well happen to the Townstar, too.
5. Ford Transit Courier – 81% average score
The Transit Courier is the smallest conventional van on sale in the UK, and the safest small van according to Euro NCAP.
The Transit Courier is heavily based around Ford’s Puma car, and that shows when it comes to safety. It scored a high 81% average rating, performing equally well across all three major areas. It lost a few points for a lack of kit, such as adaptive cruisecontrol and post-crash intervention but it was a consistent and admirable result nonethless.
3=. Mercedes-Benz Sprinter – 81.33% average score
The large Mercedes Sprinter large comes well equipped and this shows through in the results it achieved in its safety assessment, with it scoring particularly well in the Crash Avoidance category where it managed 89%.
It wasn’t ever thus, though, with changes made to it in 2024 upgrading it from Silver to a Platinum rating. This has then been translated to a five-star score. It performed well in all key areas assessed.
3=. Mercedes-Benz Vito – 81.3% average score
Mercedes makes some very safe vans, according to the Euro NCAP results, with the Vito matching its bigger sibling the Sprinter with an average score of 81.3%. Despite being totally different vans, the two vehicles managed exactly the same ratings across the three major categories. If we are being hyper picky then the Vito outscored the Sprinter by 0.4 of a point in the Frontal Collisions assessment, but the overall scores are all the same.
As with many vans it is the lack of adaptive cruise control that brings the overall score down – adding that would bring an additional 15 points in the Safe Driving category.
2. Ford Transit – 84.3% average score
The big, full-size Ford Transit was another van reassessed in 2024 in-line with these latest changes, and it resulted in a significant improvement. It now offers ‘safety technology which is on a par with modern passenger cars’ according to Euro NCAP.
It was scored particularly highly in the Crash Avoidance section, where its 93% is the joint best of any van marked. If Ford is looking for areas to improv then it could add an Advanced e-call system that requests assistance in the case of a crash and adaptive cruise control.
1. Ford Transit Custom / Volkswagen Transporter – 84.3% average score
The most notable change to the Ford Transit Custom‘s result in 2025 is that it is joined by the fundamentally identical VW Transporter on top of the podium. The high score is something Ford’s engineers targeted to in its development, so they’ll be pleased with the five-star rating, and it makes perfect sense for VW to offer the same systems that caused that result.
Both rack up high results across the board, with no category getting less than 80% and Crash Avoidance being rated at 93%. The vehicle used for testing purposes was a Transit Custom, with the same results applied to both vans.
Just so you know, we may receive a commission or other compensation from the links on this website - read why you should trust us.
