Audi A3 Receives 5-Star Rating in Euro NCAP Safety Test
After a multitude of rigorous Euro NCAP crash and safety tests, the incredibly popular Audi A3 has been awarded an impressive solid five-star rating.
This may come as no surprise to anyone, as Audi have a fantastic history of achieving high marks in past reports. This result comes after the same five-stars were awarded to four of the brand’s 2019 models: the A1, the Q7, the Q8 and the all-electric e-tron. It’s been a long time since Audi didn’t win top-marks.
The latest Audi A3 is a practical subcompact executive car that combines great comfort, efficiency and performance. It’s perfect for urban and suburban living, and for taking care of a growing family.
The A3 is packed with a variety of advanced technology and is impressively built, with features and finishes that make you know you’re sat in a premium vehicle.
Importantly, the 2020 A3 comes well-equipped with active safety tech as standard, and more systems are available to make the popular small Audi as prepared as possible for compromising situations.
The Euro NCAP
The European New Car Assessment Programme is an independent European car safety performance assessment programme. The Euro NCAP is designed to put a car through its paces, so that drivers may choose a car safe for them and their family, with assistance features that have been impartially tried and tested.
Focused on four key areas, the Euro NCAP report gathers an overall safety rating from various crash and safety tests performed on the car in question. The 2020 Audi A3 endured several crash scenarios - frontal, rear and side tests.
The new Audi A3 survived thorough crash testing, using dummies linked-up to provide impact readings, for analysis on both Adult Occupant Protection and Child Occupant Protection respectively.
The A3 also underwent Vulnerable Road User safety tests, such as detecting and stopping for unexpected pedestrians and cyclists.
In addition, the Audi A3’s Safety Assistance features were assessed, such autobraking, Speed Assist and Lane Assist.
The Results:
Adult Occupant Protection
The 2020 Audi A3 scored really high marks during Adult Occupant Protection tests: averaging at an impressive 89%.
When hit head on at speed, the passenger compartment remained stable. Protection of the driver's chest was rated as good, whilst the NCAP’s dummy measurements indicated good protection of the knees and femurs of both the driver and passenger too.
Audi showed that a similar level of protection would be provided to occupants of different sizes and to those sitting in different positions.
The latest A3 is even equipped with a central airbag, to protect against occupant-to-occupant interaction in side impacts. This system worked well in Euro NCAP's test, with good protection of the head for both front seat occupants.
Tests on the front seats and head restraints demonstrated good protection against whiplash injury in the event of a rear-end collision.
The new A3 is equipped as standard with a multi-collision braking system, which applies the brakes immediately after an impact to prevent the vehicle from being involved in secondary impacts.
The car also has an advanced e-Call system which, in the event of an accident, automatically sends a message to the emergency services, giving the car's location.
Child Occupant Protection
The new A3 also performed well through the Child Occupant protection tests, scoring a high 81%.
When hit head-on, protection of the neck and chest of the 10-year dummy was rated as very good.
In the side barrier test, protection of all critical body regions was good too; the A3 scored maximum points for this.
The front passenger airbag can be disabled to allow a rearward-facing child restraint to be used in that seating position, and clear information is provided about this.
Vulnerable Road User Protection
It was found that the latest Audi A3 achieved very well in the Vulnerable Road User safety tests, gaining a respectable 68%.
In the unlikely event of a pedestrian coming into contact with the A3, the bonnet provided predominantly good protection to their head. The new A3’s bumper provided good protection to pedestrians' legs and pelvis too.
The 2020 A3’s autonomous emergency braking (AEB) system detects vulnerable road users like pedestrians and cyclists, as well as other vehicles. In NCAP’s tests, the system's response to such road users was good, with collisions avoided in most cases.
Safety Assistance
The safety features included in the 2020 A3 scored 73% and the NCAP testing looked at the following:
- Lane Assist
- Speed Assistant System
- Smart Brake Support
- Seat Belt Reminder
The new A3 has an intelligent driver monitoring system which uses steering inputs to identify whether the driver is alert and focussed on the driving task or is impaired through fatigue or other factors. The system warns the driver if impaired driving is detected.
In addition, the A3’s lane support system will gently correct the steering of the car, if it is drifting out of lane and also intervenes much more aggressively in some critical situations.
A driver-set speed limiter is fitted as standard in the A3 too. A more advanced system is available as an option, which identifies local speed limits and can be set to automatically limit the vehicle’s speed accordingly.
The A3 promises the best safety is afforded to its driver and their family.
Watch how the new Audi A3 coped during its rigorous 2020 Euro NCAP Crash and Safety tests:
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For more detail on how the 2020 Audi A3 performed, you can view the complete Euro NCAP report here.