中国采用更严格汽车碰撞标准

Among seven tested car models, three were graded "five-star" including Mazda's Atenza, Ruiteng from SAIC Motor and Great Wall Motor's Haval, while three others were rated "four star" and one "three star".

This is said to be the strictest assessment imposed by China Automotive Technology & Research Center so far.

Director of the C-NCAP management center Zhao Hang says the revised testing standard raised the "five-star" and "four star" threshold.

"As the drafter and maker of the standard, we keep raising it to push up the technological level of vehicle safety, and technological improvement will in turn push up the standard. So the current five-star standard has a higher technological level than the previous five-star version."

The 2015 C-NCAP crash standard has also highlighted the safety for motorists' head and neck.

Liu Yuguang, director of the test evaluating department of the center, elaborates on the new requirement.

"We tested seven vehicle types this time, and none of them got a full mark in head and neck injuries tests. In comparison, a considerable proportion of old models received full marks, which means the 2015 standard for head and neck safety has more strict requirements"

At the same time, Liu Yuguang reveals that one-third of over 100 vehicle models rated "five-star" under the old rule will be downgraded to "four star".

"If it causes a fire within three minutes after the crash test, we will downgrade the vehicle, as fire is potentially a big threat to personal safety. Internationally, there is no precedent for such a standard on fire and star-rating downgrading."

According to the testing procedures, the center buys vehicles directly from the market and then puts them to multiple tests including emissions, fuel consumption, three different types of crashes and whiplash.

The rating process has taken two months.

The current C-NCAP crash assessment is in line with the European standards and it is reported to be higher than most existing mandatory ones around the world.

For CRI, I am Wang Mengzhen.