Top Key Take-Aways

These updates mark a substantial step toward reducing road fatalities and improving vehicle safety by addressing current gaps, emphasizing vulnerable users, and aligning with global practices.

Our safety experts have read the NHTSA NCAP Final Decision and Roadmap documents and created a summary of the key updates.

Blind Spot Warning (BSW) and Blind Spot Intervention (BSI):

• Evaluate for performance to prevent collisions during lane changes or adjacent vehicle presence.
• Tests include activation of warnings and interventions with and without turn signals.

Lane Keeping Assist (LKA):

• Integrated with Lane Departure Warning (LDW) evaluations.
• Assesses vehicle response to lane lines and promote use of haptic, visual and auditory signals.

Pedestrian Automatic Emergency Braking (PAEB):

• Tests include pedestrian detection in crossing under daylight and nighttime conditions.
• Maximum test speeds are increased to 60 kph (37.3 mph) for certain conditions.
   

• New test scenarios and stricter evaluation criteria for:
  • Crash Imminent Braking (CIB): Includes higher test speeds up to 80 kph (49.7 mph).
  • Dynamic Brake Support (DBS): more challenging speed differentials and no-contact criteria.
• Enhanced false positive suppression tests to ensure systems do not activate unnecessarily.

The NCAP roadmap updates includes new regulations involving crash dummies THOR-50M, THOR-5F, WorldSID-50M, and WorldSID-5F as part of enhanced crashworthiness evaluations:

Adoption of advanced crash test dummies: THOR-50M (frontal), and WorldSID-50M (side-impact)

• These advanced dummies will be incorporated into frontal and side impact tests starting with model year 2027 vehicles.
• THOR-50M will be used in frontal crash tests, including the frontal rigid barrier crash test.
• WorldSID-50M will replace earlier side-impact dummies for more accurate injury risk assessments in side crashes.

Integration of tests focusing on female-specific crash dummies (THOR-5F and WorldSID-5F).

• These represent advanced fifth-percentile female crash dummies and are planned for future integration into NCAP testing.
• THOR-5F is undergoing further development for frontal crash assessments, while WorldSID-5F is targeted for side-impact tests, likely around 2031-2033. 

Enhanced evaluation metrics for rib deflections and injury risk.

• Expansion of PAEB to include testing for bicyclists and motorcyclists.
• Future plans to address safety features that protect pedestrians, cyclists, and other vulnerable groups through additional ratings.

• Development of an “overall safety rating” incorporating crashworthiness, crash avoidance, and VRU safety performance.
• Ratings to be displayed on Monroney labels (vehicle window stickers) by 2027.
• Plans for periodic updates to ensure consumer information reflects the latest safety technologies.

• Focus on phased updates to testing protocols, ratings, and technologies.
• Mid-term (2024-2028): Rear Automatic Braking, enhanced FCW, CIB, and DBS evaluations.
• Long-term (2029-2033): 
  • Enhanced AEB for intersection scenarios.
  • Advanced crashworthiness using new tools like a pedestrian leg-form impactor (aPLI).

The automotive industry has embraced the adoption of procedures aligning with Euro NCAP and other international safety standards, while also incorporating newer tools such as the Global Vehicle Target (GVT) to standardize testing on a global scale.

The automotive safety landscape is evolving with the exploration of Driver Monitoring Systems to address distracted and drowsy driving, alongside the planned incorporation of Intelligent Speed Assist technologies in upcoming updates.

These updates mark a substantial step toward reducing road fatalities and improving vehicle safety by addressing current gaps, emphasizing vulnerable users, and aligning with global practices.