Europe's New Car Assessment Programme
Coverage of Europe's New Car Assessment Programme in the Nexus archive.
- Safety feature now standard in most new European cars often missing from models sold in the U.S.
Front-center airbags, standard in most new European cars due to updated safety protocols, are often absent in U.S. models, particularly in non-luxury vehicles. A crash survivor highlights the risk of head-to-head collisions in lateral impacts, which these airbags are designed to prevent. U.S. safety assessments have not prioritized testing for this feature, unlike their European counterparts.
- Safety feature now standard in most new European cars often missing from models sold in the U.S.
Front-center airbags, designed to reduce head injuries in side-impact collisions, are now standard in most new European cars but remain rare in U.S. models, often limited to luxury or high-end trims. The U.S. lacks safety testing protocols to encourage broader adoption, unlike Europe, where the feature has been prioritized since 2020. A singer-songwriter’s severe injuries from a 2025 car crash highlight the risks of their absence.