Will Lee Safety Pillows Say Stars

In Europe, the passive safety of the car began to be assessed 25 years ago. This is done by the international organization EuroNCAP. It includes insurance companies, government organizations, research institutes and auto clubs.

Most believe that the safety of the car is measured either by the price (in an expensive car and included all the most expensive), or by the number of airbags. In part, of course, they are right. But after all, the presence of airbags is not yet a guarantee that they will be opened in time and properly inflated.

During the accident, the windshield racks and the body are deformed. Brake and clutch pedals move. A twisted steering column can cause severe injury and it is very important to know in which direction and how far they will go after the collision.

And only with the help of crash tests cars get stars for safety. In Euro-NCAP, this is done as follows: an anonymous purchase of several production cars and simply split them into two independent research centers - Dutch and English.

During the test, collisions are simulated - front (at a speed of 64 km / h), lateral (50 km / h), collision with a pedestrian (40 km / h). Sometimes, if the car has extra pillows to protect the head, an additional crash test is used to hit the pillar sideways (29 km / h).

Inside the car, mannequins equipped with sensors are placed, which show the degree of stress on individual parts of the body, to determine the extent of injury that can be obtained by getting into different accidents. Both adults and children's mannequins are used to assess the safety of not only adults, but also small passengers. Seat belts are used to fix the dummies. For each test, a separate score is maintained.

After calculating points, the car is assigned a number of stars - a maximum of 5.

Fight for points

The results of Euro-NCAP did not immediately become recognized as auto concerns. But this organization received state support from most European countries and dismissed its conclusions. The newspapers began to publish the results of crash tests and potential buyers began to study these results.

Manufacturers of cars had no choice - to earn more, it was necessary to gain more points. And then it turned out that additional airbags do not solve the problem. To get additional points, you need to install sensors that signal the unfastened seat belts of the driver and passengers. Bonus points are not superfluous - the more points, the more stars you can get, and the sensors are quite cheap. Now, motorists are forced to listen to the unpleasant squeak of these sensors, until the straps are fastened. Unpleasant - but effective. After all, if the strap is not fastened - the airbags will not help either.

The requirements are tightened

It is clear that manufacturers do not want to invest in the development of the latest security systems. It's easier to meet the set minimum and get 5 stars due.

Therefore, at Euro-NCAP, requirements are tightened from time to time. It will become necessary that the basic set includes a system of exchange rate stability (ESC). There will be insufficient passive safety of the car (helping to avoid injuries during an accident) - the effectiveness of active safety will begin to be counted - a variety of electronic assistants that will save you from getting into an accident. The same system of ESC (traffic stability), the signaling device about the impact on the road marking, the speed limiter and various others.