Toyota Yaris earns five-star Euro NCAP safety rating in revamped crash test

Toyota’s new Yaris hatchback has become the first car to be safety rated using Euro NCAP’s revamped 2020 crash test protocols – emerging with a top five-star rating.

The fourth-generation Yaris was the first vehicle to be subjected to an all-new frontal offset test, which replaces the one previously used since the programme started in 1997, and is the first to feature a counter-measure for injuries in far-side impacts under the new regime.

It emerged with a glowing report, however, with Euro NCAP’s Secretary General, Michiel van Ratingen, offering his congratulations to the Japanese brand.

“This has been a tough year for all concerned and I am grateful to Euro NCAP’s labs and employees who have worked hard to deliver safety, while staying safe,” he said.

“We have had to adapt quickly to new working practices, and it is pleasing that the first car rated this year should have gone so far to address the safety issues that are emerging as top priorities.”

Euro NCAP’s new mobile progressive deformable barrier (MPDB) test assesses the protection a car offers its occupants as well as the risks it poses to the car it has crashed into.

It said that the Yaris, in general, had done well in the test, stating that its small size and benign front end made it “one of the less aggressive crash partners on the road”.

The Yaris’ two centre-mounted airbags inflated in side impacts to limit an occupants’ travel to the opposite side of the vehicle and to mitigate the risk of occupant to occupant contact, it said in its assessment.

The Yaris also showcased the rapid advancements in crash avoidance technology, according to Euro NCAP.

“The latest generation of Toyota Safety Sense now can stop the vehicle during turning to avoid a crash with oncoming traffic”, it said.