Honda Civic gets 5-star NCAP Safety Rating

Since a long time now, Euro NCAP’s star rating scheme has been providing customers an easy to understand score as regards a vehicle’s overall safety. The system considers the tiniest of details when it comes to occupant safety protection, including frontal, side, pole and rear impacts apart from child and pedestrian protection, and the availability of driver aids.

An impressive fact about Honda is that since the introduction of the Euro NCAP’s new rating scheme from February 2009, all Honda models tested have achieved 5-star rating.

The Civic is loaded with safety features such as its Collision Mitigation Brake System (CMBS) --- a radar-based autonomous emergency braking system designed to help prevent collisions with vehicles which are stationary or travelling in the same direction. The system is aimed at alerting the driver to an imminent collision both at low speeds, typical of urban driving, and at higher speeds typical of rural roads and motorways by studying accident statistics in Germany and extending the figures to the broader European community. Honda estimates that if all cars are fitted with CMBS, between 200,000 and 250,000 accidents could either be prevented or mitigated every year. Other safety features in the Honda Civic:

1) Vehicle Stability Assist
Vehicle Stability Assist (VSA) is designed to assist the driver in maintaining control during cornering, acceleration and sudden maneuvers by applying braking assistance to any of the wheels as necessary and modulating the engine torque output as required.

2) Advanced Compatibility Engineering (ACE) Body Structure
Developed in the car-to-car crash testing facility at Tochigi, the Advanced Compatibility Engineering (ACE) body structure is now a well-established strength of Honda’s safety credentials. The ACE body structure is a Honda exclusive body design that enhances occupant protection and crash compatibility in frontal collisions. The ACE Body Structure design utilises a network of connected structural elements to distribute crash energy more evenly throughout the front of the vehicle. This enhanced frontal crash energy management helps to reduce the forces transferred to the passenger compartment and can help to more evenly disperse the forces transferred to other vehicles in a crash.

3) Pedestrian Protection
The new Civic also incorporates many features designed with pedestrian-protection in mind. Research has shown that these features can dramatically improve a pedestrian's chance of survival if struck by a moving vehicle. Features include windscreen wiper pivots designed to break away on impact, energy absorbing front wing mounts and bonnet hinges, as well as an unobstructed area beneath the bonnet allowing greater space for deformation.

4) Airbags and Seatbelts
On all models the driver and passenger Supplemental Restraint System (SRS) front and side airbags are complemented by full length curtain airbags to protect all occupants. There are three-point Emergency Locking Retractor (ELR) seatbelts in all seating positions, the front seatbelts also have 2 stage Energy Absorption (EA) load limiting pretensioners. In the rear ISOFIX points ensure secure and correct installation and mounting of child seats.