The ZeekrThe small electric SUV is the first car to be crash tested as European and Australian safety regulators develop their 2029 safety standards, building on the new 2026 protocols introduced this year.
With an interval of three years between protocol updates, the European New Car Assessment Program (Euro NCAP) and the Australasian New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP) are already working on the next set of safety standards following the latest revisions.
Although the Zeekr
Instead, the test is intended to help inform and shape the 2029 protocols, which will be largely agreed between the two safety bodies and presented in Euro NCAP’s Vision 2030 roadmap.
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A key focus of the 2029 Protocols is a deeper assessment of how advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) interact with each other.
The goal is to better integrate these systems so that vehicles can better interpret driver behavior – such as where a driver is looking – and only issue audible warnings when necessary to reduce unnecessary warnings.
In addition, the safety authorities want to minimize the occurrence of so-called “phantom braking”.
Phantom braking refers to instances where a vehicle’s autonomous emergency braking is activated unnecessarily, often without apparent danger, and affects brands such as Tesla.
The Secretary General of Euro NCAP, Dr. Michiel van Ratingen, told the media, among other things: Daily SparkzThe new standards focus on four priorities.
“One is to really ensure the safe introduction of a system of automated driving systems, but those systems are more or less there to help you drive,” he said.
Dr. van Ratingen said that ADAS features can be broadly divided into “comfort” and “safety” categories. Systems such as fatigue monitoring fall under the comfort range, while functions such as autonomous emergency braking are safety systems.
“This is not a new topic for you at the moment, but when it comes to bringing ADAS to market, we believe there is still great potential for further improvement. The systems as they are today – sometimes they don’t deliver what they promise.”
A broader range of crash test dummies representing different body types will also be developed to better understand how crashes affect occupants of different sizes.
“The main thing is … how do we make sure that in the future we design our vehicles not just for the dummy that we happen to have, but with the entire population in mind, and actually use all the information that cars currently have and can collect about who’s in the car to actually optimize crash protection.”
The new Thor 5F dummy, introduced for the 2026 protocols, costs around 1.3 million euros ($2.15 million) and is a bipedal – human-like – model with significantly more sensors to provide detailed crash data.
It represents a fifth percentile adult female, and the addition of a second Thor-5F dummy is planned for testing in 2029.
“If you look at whiplash claims in Europe, whiplash claims for women are twice as high as for men – so the risk of whiplash is twice as high for women as for men. So it’s actually quite controversial to use a male mannequin in that regard.”“, said the Secretary General.
Euro NCAP is also exploring additional dummies and the use of “human body models” to assess internal injuries to ribs, organs and other structures.
This could provide greater insight into the impact of crashes on occupants of different ages and potentially identify previously unknown risk factors.
The organization is also researching cloud-based communication technology for vehicles, expanding the 2026 protocols that penalize cars without automatic emergency alert functionality.
In the event of an accident, additional data sent via the cloud could inform first responders about the severity of the incident and possible injuries.
“The 2029 protocols are more about the content, 2026 were more about building the house, building the structure,” said Dr. van Ratingen. “Now we are ready to actually use this instrument, the new rating system, to effectively drive changes in the market.”
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