Euro NCAP — the European New Car Assessment Programme — is an independent organisation dedicated to improving the safety of modern vehicles. Our testing, which is done across all areas of car safety and across all vehicle segments, enables consumers to make informed choices and select the safest vehicle for their needs.
Since 1996, Euro NCAP has played a pivotal role in making important safety technologies standard across mainstream vehicles. The organisation was established in response to growing public concern that existing regulatory safety standards were not keeping pace with technological developments or the real-world risks faced by drivers, passengers, and other road users.
Euro NCAP was created as a consumer-focused programme to address this gap. Through rigorous, transparent, and publicly available crash tests and safety assessments, it has become Europe’s leading authority on vehicle safety.
Today, the Euro NCAP safety rating is recognised worldwide as a trusted benchmark that informs consumer choice, drives industry innovation, and ultimately helps to save lives.
Euro NCAP’s work is built on a simple belief: everyone deserves to drive a safer car. Whether you're a first-time buyer, a family driver, or a business fleet operator, our mission is to give you clear, evidence-based guidance about vehicle safety – and to encourage manufacturers to do better.
As cars become more complex and automated, the need for trusted, independent information has never been greater. Euro NCAP continues to evolve its assessments to reflect emerging technologies, new crash scenarios, and the needs of vulnerable road users – ensuring safety stays at the heart of vehicle design.
Euro NCAP’s mission is to inform and protect the public. The programme’s focus is on new cars available in the European market, but its work influences manufacturers and regulators worldwide.
By testing and comparing vehicles under consistent and evolving protocols, Euro NCAP allows consumers to make informed choices. The organisation highlights not just crash protection, but also active safety technologies like autonomous emergency braking (AEB), lane-keeping systems, and driver assistance features. Through this work, we are helping to improve the safety of all road users, including pedestrians and cyclists, and not only motorists.
Importantly, Euro NCAP doesn’t just score the best-performing cars – it also pushes the industry forward. Its protocols are designed to encourage innovation, reward comprehensive safety, and raise the bar for all vehicle types and sizes.
Euro NCAP’s independence is fundamental to its credibility. It is not a government agency, and not part of the automotive industry. The programme is supported by a consortium of European governments, motoring clubs, consumer organisations and insurance bodies, all united by a commitment to car and road safety.
Euro NCAP works closely with a network of testing facilities,11 in Europe, and others beyond in China and Australia, to successfully deliver robust and independent consumer testing of passenger cars. Stringent testing that is constantly evolving ensures that Euro NCAP's assessment remains up-to-date with the latest safety innovations and technologies.
The highly-committed Euro NCAP team, led by Dr. Michiel van Ratingen, Secretary General, is responsible for the ongoing operations, management and development of the Euro NCAP test programme, safety ratings, communications and consumer awareness initiatives and is supported by technical specialists and vehicle safety experts.
There are more than 10 New Car Assessment Programmes (NCAPs), or similar programmes, established around the world to promote safer vehicles for consumers. Other test programmes cover the markets of Australia and New Zealand, the United States, Japan, Korea, China, Latin America, India and South-East Asia. And other NCAPs are still emerging. These NCAPs perform a range of tests and assessments on new vehicles. However, the test protocols and calculation methods differ, catering for respective jurisdictional and environmental differences. To ensure accurate and relevant safety ratings are communicated to all consumers, a Brand Usage Protocol has been agreed between test programmes whereby 'the logo of the local NCAP only is to be used when advertising NCAP results.' The safety ratings published by other test programmes cannot therefore be applied to models sold in Europe.
