Why truck makers should truly prioritise safety. Our interview with Matthew Avery (Euro NCAP)

On November 20, 2024, the Euro NCAP entered a brand-new era, with the very first European safety tests carried out on heavy-duty road tractors. Some more will follow next year, for instance the ones involving rigid trucks. The tests had quite a significant echo, meaning that manufacturers, buyers and users are increasingly interested in the evolution of safety features on heavy-duty vehicles. Also, it’s important to point out that the year 2024 was a crucial one in this regard, as last July the GSR (General Safety Regulation) II came into force, thus making new trucks equipped with state-of-the-art ADAS.

Euro NCAP Truck Safe tests

We truly believe safety is a key issue in modern trucking. That’s why we asked some questions to Matthew Avery, Director of Strategic Development at Euro NCAP, with the aim of going deeper in such a crucial matter.

Mr Avery, why has Euro NCAP decided to test also heavy-duty commercial vehicles, in addition to cars and LCVs?

“Whilst trucks make up just 3% of the European vehicle fleet, they’re involved in 15% of all fatal crashes. If we are to deliver ‘vision zero’—the concept of no road fatalities on European roads—we cannot only focus on passenger cars. We must consider all vehicle types. We intend to look at buses and coaches at some point”.

Where, and when, were the tests performed?

“Euro NCAP has members, and they often have partner vehicle test laboratories. There are many across Europe and Euro NCAP accredits them to ensure test results are comparable. The truck tests were undertaken by Asta Zero (Sweden) MIRA (United Kingdom) CSI (Italy) BASt, DEKRA (Germany), IDIADA (Catalonia), and UTAC/Transpolis (France)”.

The relationships with European truck manufacturers

Not all the manufacturers made their vehicles available for testing. In fact, Daimler Truck, MAN, and IVECO declined to provide them. What were their motivations? In these cases, which trucks has Euro NCAP used for the tests?

“These three manufacturers chose not to support it. Their rationale is not clear although there was perhaps a belief that there was little interest in such information. Where they refused to supply, we hired the best and highest specification vehicle we could find. The MAN was a very recent (GSR2) compliant vehicle. The IVECO and Mercedes-Benz were new in 2024 and representative of the latest vehicles on the market. We made clear in our results that the vehicles were not state-of-the-art and not necessarily representative of a new vehicle ordered. Mercedes-Benz has now indicated its intention to join the test programme. We believe that MAN and IVECO will also now join”.

In your opinion, how was the Euro NCAP TRUCK SAFE assessment programme generally welcomed by European truck manufacturers?

“Various. The Scandinavians were very supportive even though they didn’t all have 5-star trucks. They saw the initiative as very positive. Likewise, Renault and DAF were very supportive. The German manufacturers were not keen and pushed back, as discussed above. They now appear to recognise how much interest there is in their customer base in the subject of safety. We have had lots of interest from hauliers and operators wanting to select safe trucks to protect their drivers and their brand’s reputation”.

Have you tried to include Ford Trucks in the testing truck panel?

“We have engaged with Ford and their F-Max vehicle and they have indicated a wish to have their vehicle assessed in 2025”.

The idea of the City Safe label

Can you please tell us how (and why) the City Safe label (awarded to trucks that feature technologies or good design that can prevent accidents that typically happen in cities or urban environments) was created?

“We recognise that trucks are designed to do a specific job. That could be moving goods between cities, moving aggregate into building sites, or collecting refuse in Cities. We see certain crashes occurring in certain environments. And so in cities, vulnerable road users dominate with cyclists particularly at risk of turning vehicles. On European highways, car users are at the highest risk with trucks running into the back of stationary vehicles. For vehicles running into city environments, we would like to see specific countermeasures to address VRU crashes – so systems that can see pedestrians and cyclists and avoid collisions. We also see the benefits of good direct and indirect vision, so these results are also considered. To get the City Safe recognition a vehicle should either have very good vision or VRU-specific technologies that meet a minimum level of safety”.

Also considering the price/quality ratio, what result surprised you the most among tested trucks?

“These results show which truck manufacturers are today prioritising safety. None of the vehicles had systems designed to score well in the Euro NCAP tests. So, this was a litmus test of the market today. It shows that some do no more than is required by regulation and suggests that safety is not a priority in their design. With the high-scoring vehicles, we see those manufacturers, especially Volvo, where real-world safety is integral to their brand ethos. We hope as time goes by all manufacturers prioritise safety and that we can collectively reduce road casualties towards vision zero”.