The Mercedes-Benz CLA Gets Top Marks in Euro NCAP Safety Tests
The newest Mercedes-Benz CLA has been awarded a solid five-star performance, after rigorous Euro NCAP crash and safety tests.
This may come as no surprise, as Mercedes-Benz have a great history of achieving high marks in past reports.
In a busy year for the company, the 4 door saloon CLA shares its active safety technology with the A-Class - so the results are similar.
An Overall Award Winner
Each year, Euro NCAP publishes a list of those cars that have performed best in their respective categories.
Star ratings cannot be compared directly between different categories of vehicles, so a 'Best in Class' is published showing which vehicles have performed better than their competitors.
In addition to scoring full marks during its safety report, the 2019 Mercedes-Benz CLA has received the overall award for Best Small Family Car of 2019!
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 CLA endured several crash scenarios - frontal, rear and side tests.
The Mercedes CLA 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 CLA also underwent Vulnerable Road User safety tests, such as detecting and stopping for unexpected pedestrians and cyclists.
In addition, the CLA's Safety Assistance features were assessed, such autobraking and lane support.
The Results:
Adult Occupant Protection
The Mercedes CLA scored really high marks in the full-width rigid barrier test, gaining 96% overall.
This is when the vehicle collides (at 50km/h) head-on with a stationary object - the CLA demonstrated a good level of protection to nearly all critical body parts, for both the driver and back seat passengers.
High marks were also awarded to the Mercedes-Benz in a side barrier impact test, protection of all critical body areas was good. However, the CLA was penalised as the impacted rear door opened, risking passenger ejection.
Tests on the front seats and head restraints demonstrated good protection against whiplash injuries in the event of a rear-end collision. An assessment of the rear seats also indicated good whiplash protection.
The standard-fit autonomous emergency braking (AEB) system performed well in tests of its functionality at the low speeds, typical of city driving at which many whiplash injuries occur.
Additionally, the AEB system performed well in tests both of its pedestrian detection and its response to cyclists, with collisions avoided in nearly all test scenarios.
Child Occupant Protection
The CLA also achieved very well through the Child Occupant protection tests, scoring 91%.
For families, the CLA is designed to accommodate any child restraint system, especially since the front passenger airbag is automatically disabled when a rearward-facing child restraint is put in that seating position.
When the CLA was involved in a rear-end collision, the head restraints and seats provided good protection for all passengers against whiplash.
Vulnerable Road User Protection
It was found that the Mercedes CLA also scored exceptionally in the Vulnerable Road User safety tests - 91%.
If a pedestrian was to be hit, the CLA offered good protection to the head, over nearly the whole surface of the bonnet.
The bumper also serves a good purpose, lifting after being struck by a pedestrian - to ease their impact and keep them away from stiff structures below. The bonnet offers good protection to the legs and pelvis of a pedestrian.
The CLA's Smart Brake Support system was also able to detect Vulnerable Road Users - the CLA identified pedestrians and reacted accordingly.
The Smart Brake system performed well, and in nearly all scenarios accidents were subsequently avoided.
Safety Assistance
The safety features included in the CLA scored a good 75% and the NCAP testing looked at the following:
- - Lane Assist
- - Speed Assistant System
- - Smart Brake Support
- - Seat Belt Reminder
Most whiplash injuries occur at in built-up, urban areas at low speeds - despite this, the Smart Brake Support system in the Mercedes CLA avoided all potential collisions that may haves occurred in the test's scenarios, eradicating any potential whiplash injuries or accidents.
Therefore, the report indicates that the standard-fit Smart Brake Support continued to perform well.
The AEB system performed well in tests of its functionality at highway speeds. The lane assistance system performed marginally, with adequate performance for lane keeping assistance and emergency lane keeping but lacking a blind-spot monitoring system.
The speed assistance system, comprising a camera-based speed limit detection system and driver-set speed limiter, was rated as good.
The car has a seatbelt reminder system as standard for front and rear seats, ensuring the best safety is afforded to the CLA driver and their family.
Watch how the Mercedes-Benz CLA performed during the Euro NCAP tests:
You can see a range of the best Mercedes-Benz CLA deals here at Vertu Mercedes-Benz.
Click below to take a look at one of the safest small family cars on the market:
