Euro NCAP says no progress on quadricycles

Small city cars classified as heavy quadricycles still have ‘fundamental’ safety problems according to Euro NCAP.

The organisation says safety equipment is sparsely fitted to these vehicles and the results show little improvement since the last tests performed in 2014.

The crash test results of the selected vehicles – Aixam Crossover GTR, Bajaj Qute, Chatenet CH30 and Microcar M.GO Family – show the standard of protection offered to the driver is still generally very low, leading to serious risks in collisions with other vehicles or obstacles.

Euro NCAP’s first tests on heavy quadricycles showed major shortcomings in safety. The organisation called for more realistic requirements from the regulators and for quadricycle manufacturers to take more responsibility for the safety of their products. Since then, more quadricycles have come onto the market and an updated European regulation has come into force, leading Euro NCAP to revisit the safety offered in this segment.

Euro NCAP Secretary General, Dr Michiel van Ratingen, said: ‘It is disappointing to see that quadricycles are still lacking basic safety features that are common in small cars. By not challenging the manufacturers to do more, legislators continue to give a false impression to consumers that these vehicles are fit for purpose.’

The organisation released data showing that quadricycles typically score 0 or 1 star in Euro NCAP’s specially-created safety tests for the category, despite having a similar size to the Toyota IQ, a small city car that received a 5 star rating in 2009 under Euro NCAP’s passenger car testing regime.