Land Rover Defender Gets Perfect 5-star Rating In Euro NCAP Crash Test

• The Defender tested here was the longer 110 variant with five doors. 

• It scored 79 percent in safety assist protection and 71 percent in vulnerable road user protection.

• The Defender provides good to adequate protection to critical body parts of adults.

• It provides good protection to child occupants.

• Safety features such as autonomous emergency braking, lane keep assist help in preventing accidents.

Euro NCAP (New Car Assessment Programme) has tested the new Land Rover Defender 110 with five doors and the premium SUV has come out with flying colours. The 90 3-door version is yet to be tested. The Defender 110 scored a full five stars thanks to its impressive numbers in both adult and child occupant protection as well as safety assists available on-board.

The five-star rating came as a result of an 85 percent score in both, adult and child occupant protection. During the adult occupant protection tests, the Defender scored the most points in the side barrier and side pole impact, offering all-round good protection. It did, however, lose out in the front impact test due to its large size complementing the impact and thus providing only adequate leg protection to the passenger and marginal thigh protection to both, the driver and the passenger. The rigid wall test also proved to be a bit of a challenge with only marginal chest protection for the rear passenger. All the seats in the Defender provide good support against whiplash.

In terms of child occupant support, the SUV offers good all-round protection according to the test conducted on 6-year-old and 10-year-old dummies. Up to three ISOFIX mounting points and adequate seatbelt length for the Child Restraint System, proved to be a good countermeasure to injuries in an accident. The front passenger airbag can also be disabled to accommodate a rearward-facing child seat in the co-driver seat. 

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The safety features on board helped the Defender score 79 percent in the safety assists department. It comes with six airbags, autonomous emergency braking, driver drowsiness detection, seatbelt reminder for all seats, lane keep assist, speed assistance system, and rear collision monitor. The Defender also scored 71 percent in vulnerable road user protection. The bonnet provided adequate or good protection to the head and neck of a struck pedestrian. Autonomous emergency braking helped avoid an accident with pedestrians and cyclists in most cases.

The Land Rover Defender was launched in India on October 15 in both body styles: the 3-door 90 and the 5-door 110. The model tested in the Euro NCAP was the 110 diesel, although we only get the petrol powertrain here. It retails from Rs 73.98 lakh to Rs 90.46 lakh (ex-showroom) and comes with a bunch of customisation packs.