Excellent news for ID3 owners and for the future of car safety.

 

The eGolf was the first fully electric vehicle to join the VW family, not the ID.3, so I doubt the accuracy of the rest of the report.

 

Well, there was the Golf City-Strommer years before the e-Golf! It was based on the Mk.3 Golf I think, although there may have been even earlier versions!

The ID.3 though is the first ground-up VW electric car, although if talking about the VW Group as a whole, the Taycan takes that crown I think.

 

I guess they didn’t take account of all the software glitches that could present significant safety concerns...

 

Actually, my thought was that if it did so well with the current software, the safety features should be even better when the software is fixed.

 

I suppose you never think about whether safety features will actually work when they need to? I was blissfully driving an Audi S3 for nearly 8 years before I was rear ended by a much bigger car and shoved into the car in front in a queue on an A road.

Apart from the shock of it all, I was impressed that the airbags went off as intended and the seat belt pre-tensioners fired. 👍

RIP S3...

 

I'm pretty sure the emergency braking stopped me rear-ending other car in my GTE. I had a few close shaves in the e-Golf too.

 

I had a close shave in my old Fabia, which had the first-gen 'Front Assist' system from VW Group (it was a 2016 car). Someone pulled out without looking, came within about a foot of the front of my car. Front Assist was on the brakes before I did, it reacted so quickly.

 

Yup emergency brake assist in the Kona saved me a couple of times on the motorway. The first time it also highlighted the alarmingly poor grip of the standard Nexens in wet weather. Ditched those and the second time was slightly less alarming!

 

Not that impressive really, a petrol MG is rated 3 star NCAP and the EV version 5 star the difference the EV has driving safety features like FCA that the petrol one doesn't have. That sounds like a statement written by the VW marketing department.
Tesla M3 got the highest score in an NCAP test did the ID3 beat this? Question because I don't the answer.
When did the tougher protocols come into force, have other cars released this year been through the same protocols and get 5 stars.
Manufacturers would have known about the new protocols and would have designed the car to meet them. No big deal just hype, it is what it is a safe car in relation to the current test standards.

 

The Tesla Model 3 though was tested in 2019, and there were changes to the tests for 2020. The scores can't easily be compared between different years, although it's clear that the Model 3 would have performed very well under the 2020 tests too. The 2020 tests have, for the first time since EuroNCAP began in the '90s, ditched the deformable block for the offset frontal crash, and switched to a 'sled'. This better mimics hitting another vehicle, and is apparently in order to compare how a large car will damage a smaller one (EG if they're testing a Range Rover, how much damage it will do to a Fiesta).

It sounded to me that the award was for cars tested in 2020, anyway.

 

About 1:30 she says only 10 cars have been tested in the last year, so not up against many others but clearly it would have also done well in the previous tests also.