One of the UK’s top-selling family cars has been given a rare zero-star safety rating, triggering serious concerns over its roadworthiness.
The electric Renault Zoe, which is on track to sell more than 12,000 units over two years, was awarded the damning score by crash test experts at Euro NCAP. It becomes only the third car to be given the worst-possible rating in the past 25 years.
Tests on the latest model of the car found that passengers face the “potential threat of serious injury and threat to life in the event of an accident”.
Safety experts were particularly alarmed by the results of the side impact “pole test”. It replicates a crash where the car is travelling sideways into rigid roadside objects such as trees.
The dramatic video of the test showed the intruding pole hitting a test dummy’s head. On average, a third of such crashes are fatal or serious.
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In the UK Euro NCAP tests are administered by Thatcham Research, the insurance industry’s research body. Its experts said the car offers “poor protection in crashes overall, poor vulnerable road user protection and lacks meaningful crash avoidance technology”.
The report concluded: ‘The Renault Zoe, a vehicle in the supermini class, becomes only the third car in Euro NCAP’s history to achieve a zero-star rating.”
The Zoe scored just 43 per cent for adult occupant protection — the lowest score awarded in the past 11 years — and a worryingly low 52 per cent for child occupant protection.
A number of modern safety features including autonomous emergency braking (AEB) and lane-departure warning systems designed to stop cars drifting are absent from the vehicle. Overall, it scored a shocking 14 per cent for safety-assist features.
Motoring experts said the results would have a huge impact on consumer confidence. The tested model was the Zoe 80kW electric “ZEN”.
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Testing bosses were particularly disappointed by the results as Renault became the first car-maker to achieve the full five-star rating in 2001. Euro NCAP began tests in 1997.
An earlier version of the Zoe received a top five-star rating when it was tested in 2013.
Motoring commentators questioned why Renault had stripped its newest model of many safety features.
In a damning set of results at the latest tests, Renault’s Romanian-based budget brand Dacia scored just one star on its new Spring model. It is not currently on sale in the UK.
“Renault was once synonymous with safety,” said Michiel van Ratingen, the secretary general of Euro NCAP. “The Laguna was the first car to get five stars, back in 2001. But these disappointing results for the Zoe and the Dacia Spring show that safety has now become collateral damage in the group’s transition to electric cars.
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“Only a few months ago Dacia claimed that they were ‘preoccupied with always increasing safety for those on board’ and that their cars always have improved passenger safety. That’s clearly not the case.”
Van Ratingen said it was “cynical” to offer motorists an affordable green car if it “comes at the price of higher injury risk in the event of an accident”.
The Zoe costs from £26,595, after reducing the price by £2,500 for the government’s green plug-in grant, and is one UK’s top-selling electric cars.
In a statement, Renault said: “Renault takes note of the results published by Euro NCAP following specific tests on Zoe E-tech Electric according to its new protocol implemented in 2020.
“Renault reaffirms that Zoe E-tech Electric is a safe vehicle, which complies with all regulatory safety standards.”
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It said orders made from March will include “as standard” the AEB system.
At the other end of the rankings, BMW’s new iX flagship electric car scored a full five stars. Genesis G70 and GV70 models were also awarded five stars along with the Mercedes-EQ EQS, the Skoda Fabia and the new Volkswagen Caddy.
