The Ability of Cars to Protect Occupants, Pedestrians, and Children: A Crucial Test

These tests are actually voluntary but they're so crucial in proving a car's safety record that all the big car manufacturers take part. Honda has donated its CR-V for Euro NCAP to crash test them knowing full well that if it scores well, it's going to help appeal to more buyers and sell more cars. So today is a pretty big deal.

The CR-V, which is built in the UK, is being tested at Thatcham in England, one of several Euro NCAP facilities across Europe. Each car is put through three different tests: a side impact, a pole impact, and a frontal impact like today's test of the CR-V. Alex Thompson and his team have spent a week preparing the car. It's a 60/40 mm offset front impact at 40 miles an hour, so 40% of the front of the car is actually hitting the deformable wall barrier. This represents the front of another car, which is made from aluminum honeycomb, giving it some crush strength in one direction.

The front impact test uses four crash test dummies: two adults and two children. They look pretty basic but this set is worth around £300,000. The dummies have an awful lot of instrumentation inside them that tells us a lot about how an occupant would have fared in the crash. I was looking at the shoes of the dummies earlier; they're actually special shoes designed for the test, apparently really expensive.

The sensors in each car record up to 20,000 data samples per second for this test. We have around 104 channels of data to tell us how the car is decelerated, how the seat belts are deployed, and the force that's been put through the seat belts during the crash. The dummies are so sensitive that we have to wait for the test lab to reach the right temperature before the crash can take place.

The reason why he's got white tape on his face and all the other faces is because they're going to paint some makeup on all of the dummies so that when the airbags are deployed at the front, you can see exactly where the face is coming into contact with the bag. This is the last thing before doomsday; pretty much it's now time to decide just how safe a new Honda CR-V really is.

The car will be propelled by an electric winch at exactly 40 miles per hour for 10 seconds. This is the first time Euro NCAP has allowed a TV crew behind the scenes of their work, so you're in for a bit of a treat. Okay, Jesus Christ, I'm going to go and have a look; she's gonna look... let's go and have a look.

We're off to open the doors of the car because one of the most important things after an accident is to make sure that you can get in and out of the car safely. The doors operate as they should, Alex is going to open the driver's door which obviously took the brunt of the impact. 43.4... the carnage has generated over 50 gigabytes of data that's downloaded from the car and sent to Euro NCAP headquarters in Brussels for analysis.

I'm not going to touch it because it's a sort of scene of scientific investigation, but you can see where the shins have touched the glove compartment; you see the airbag. The driver's air bag there; it's a pretty good view of where the eyebrows, nose bridge, and chin have touched. Alid Williams is going to tell me what this mess means.

So if we look here for example, the front end of course is pretty stoved in... uh there's a big member here which has obviously absorbed a lot of energy... yeah, so that's done okay, but the really important thing I would say is to look at the passenger compartment. You can see that there's very little deformation of this passenger compartment; so this part here has moved rearwards very little... uh this has maintained its shape... extremely well. So the whole passenger compartment is virtually intact after eight weeks of forensically analyzing this crash and the others, Euro NCAP delivered their verdict on the CR-V.

It was awarded a maximum possible score of five stars with high marks for occupant protection, though some room for improvement on pedestrian care. Seeing such destructive forces is always shocking but this level of analysis is also massively reassuring. Carnage like this is created purely to ensure the cars we buy are as safe as possible.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: eneuro end cap or the european new car assessment program is the organization that tells us exactly how safe new cars are they've been crashing and analyzing cars since 1997 publishing their findings so that folk like us can choose the safest possible chariot for our families today i've been given unprecedented behind the scenes access to an official crash test i'm going to see the technology and the equipment involved and i'm going to watch this brand new honda crv face a pretty grim pretty messy death but first let's look at the bigger picture before a car can go on sale it has to pass crash tests as part of the european whole vehicle type approval process but as they're a simple pass or fail buyers can't use them to find out if one car is safer than another that's where euro end cap comes in their tests are tougher and instead of a pass or a fail they publish star ratings alongside marks that reveal the ability of a car to protect occupants pedestrians and children these tests they're actually voluntary but they're so crucial in proving a car's safety record that all the big car manufacturers take part today honda has donated this crv for euro end cap to crash for them knowing full well that if it scores well it's going to help appeal to more buyers and sell more cars so today is a pretty big deal the crv which is built in the uk is being tested at thatchem in england one of several end cap facilities across europe each car is put through three different tests a side impact a pole impact and like today's test of the crv a frontal impact alex thompson and his team have spent a week preparing the car it's a 60 40 um offset front impact at 40 miles an hour so 40 of the front of the car is actually hitting the deformable wall barrier this is represents the front of another car this is yeah it's made from an aluminium honeycomb so it's got a certain amount of crush strength in in one direction the front impact test uses four crash test dummies two adults two children they look pretty basic but this set is worth around 300 000 quid they've got an awful lot of instrumentation inside them that tells us a lot of things about how a an occupant would have fared in a in one of one of the crash tests i was looking at the shoes of the dummies earlier but the sort of shoes you get given if you went to prison apparently these are set by the industry you have to wear these shoes you have to give these shoes to the dummies and apparently really expensive the sensors in each car record up to 20 000 data samples per second for this test we have i think about 104 channels of data to tell us how the car is decelerated uh how the seat belts the the force that's been put through the seat belts during the during the crash the dummies are so sensitive we have to wait for the test lab to reach the right temperature before the crash can take place the reason why he's got white tape on his face and all the other faces because they're going to paint some makeup on all of the dummies so that when the airbags are deployed at the front here you can see exactly where the face is coming into contact with the bag you can just track where it's all been so this is the last thing before doomsday pretty much it's now time to decide just how safe a new honda crv really is the car will be propelled by an electric winch at exactly 40 miles per hour 10 seconds this is the first time euro ncap have allowed a tv crew behind the scenes of their work so you're in for a bit of a treat okay jesus christ i'm gonna go and have a look she's gonna look let's go and have a look we're off to open the doors of the car because one of the most important things post accidents to make sure that you can get in and out of the car the doors operate as they should alex is going to open the driver's door which obviously taking the brunt of the impact 43.4 the carnage has generated over 50 gigabytes of data that's downloaded from the car and sent to the euro n cup headquarters in brussels for analysis i'm not going to touch it because it's a sort of scene of scientific investigation but you can see where the shins have touched the glove compartment you see the airbag the driver's air bag there it's a pretty good view of where the eyebrows the nose bridge and the chin have touched alid williams is going to tell me what this mess means so if we look here for example the the front end of course is pretty pretty stoved in uh there's a big member here which has obviously absorbed a lot of energy yeah so that's done okay but the really important thing i would say is to look at the passenger compartment you can see that there's very little deformation of this passenger compartment so this part here has moved rearwards very little um this has maintained its shape uh from what we can see the airbags seem to have deployed correctly during the the impact yeah 15 16 years ago this would have really folded up now you can see that it's really held its shape extremely well so the whole passenger compartment is virtually intact after eight weeks of forensically analyzing this crash and the others it went through euron cap delivered their verdict on the crv it was awarded a maximum possible score of five stars with high marks for occupant protection though some room for improvement on pedestrian care seeing such destructive forces is always shocking but this level of analysis is also massively reassuring carnage like this is created purely to ensure the cars we buy are as safe as possible youeuro end cap or the european new car assessment program is the organization that tells us exactly how safe new cars are they've been crashing and analyzing cars since 1997 publishing their findings so that folk like us can choose the safest possible chariot for our families today i've been given unprecedented behind the scenes access to an official crash test i'm going to see the technology and the equipment involved and i'm going to watch this brand new honda crv face a pretty grim pretty messy death but first let's look at the bigger picture before a car can go on sale it has to pass crash tests as part of the european whole vehicle type approval process but as they're a simple pass or fail buyers can't use them to find out if one car is safer than another that's where euro end cap comes in their tests are tougher and instead of a pass or a fail they publish star ratings alongside marks that reveal the ability of a car to protect occupants pedestrians and children these tests they're actually voluntary but they're so crucial in proving a car's safety record that all the big car manufacturers take part today honda has donated this crv for euro end cap to crash for them knowing full well that if it scores well it's going to help appeal to more buyers and sell more cars so today is a pretty big deal the crv which is built in the uk is being tested at thatchem in england one of several end cap facilities across europe each car is put through three different tests a side impact a pole impact and like today's test of the crv a frontal impact alex thompson and his team have spent a week preparing the car it's a 60 40 um offset front impact at 40 miles an hour so 40 of the front of the car is actually hitting the deformable wall barrier this is represents the front of another car this is yeah it's made from an aluminium honeycomb so it's got a certain amount of crush strength in in one direction the front impact test uses four crash test dummies two adults two children they look pretty basic but this set is worth around 300 000 quid they've got an awful lot of instrumentation inside them that tells us a lot of things about how a an occupant would have fared in a in one of one of the crash tests i was looking at the shoes of the dummies earlier but the sort of shoes you get given if you went to prison apparently these are set by the industry you have to wear these shoes you have to give these shoes to the dummies and apparently really expensive the sensors in each car record up to 20 000 data samples per second for this test we have i think about 104 channels of data to tell us how the car is decelerated uh how the seat belts the the force that's been put through the seat belts during the during the crash the dummies are so sensitive we have to wait for the test lab to reach the right temperature before the crash can take place the reason why he's got white tape on his face and all the other faces because they're going to paint some makeup on all of the dummies so that when the airbags are deployed at the front here you can see exactly where the face is coming into contact with the bag you can just track where it's all been so this is the last thing before doomsday pretty much it's now time to decide just how safe a new honda crv really is the car will be propelled by an electric winch at exactly 40 miles per hour 10 seconds this is the first time euro ncap have allowed a tv crew behind the scenes of their work so you're in for a bit of a treat okay jesus christ i'm gonna go and have a look she's gonna look let's go and have a look we're off to open the doors of the car because one of the most important things post accidents to make sure that you can get in and out of the car the doors operate as they should alex is going to open the driver's door which obviously taking the brunt of the impact 43.4 the carnage has generated over 50 gigabytes of data that's downloaded from the car and sent to the euro n cup headquarters in brussels for analysis i'm not going to touch it because it's a sort of scene of scientific investigation but you can see where the shins have touched the glove compartment you see the airbag the driver's air bag there it's a pretty good view of where the eyebrows the nose bridge and the chin have touched alid williams is going to tell me what this mess means so if we look here for example the the front end of course is pretty pretty stoved in uh there's a big member here which has obviously absorbed a lot of energy yeah so that's done okay but the really important thing i would say is to look at the passenger compartment you can see that there's very little deformation of this passenger compartment so this part here has moved rearwards very little um this has maintained its shape uh from what we can see the airbags seem to have deployed correctly during the the impact yeah 15 16 years ago this would have really folded up now you can see that it's really held its shape extremely well so the whole passenger compartment is virtually intact after eight weeks of forensically analyzing this crash and the others it went through euron cap delivered their verdict on the crv it was awarded a maximum possible score of five stars with high marks for occupant protection though some room for improvement on pedestrian care seeing such destructive forces is always shocking but this level of analysis is also massively reassuring carnage like this is created purely to ensure the cars we buy are as safe as possible you\n"