Ford Mustang receives dismal two-star rating in Euro crash tests
It seems Europe expects more from a crash test than America does. A lot more.
In the US, the latest generation of Ford Mustang received five stars across the board on its crash tests. In Europe, it scored just two stars. That is... not good.
The European New Car Assessment Program (Euro NCAP) just released its crash test results for Ford's venerable pony car, and it scored two stars out of a possible five. Euro NCAP's press release says there are "concerns about its crash protection of adult and child occupants and a worrying lack of safety equipment commonly available on the European market."
That's not gone well.
According to the results, the airbags didn't inflate well enough to "properly restrain" the occupants. During a full-width front crash test, a rear-seat passenger slid under the seatbelt, which signals a higher risk of injury. In side-impact tests, a dummy representing a 10-year-old child made contact with the interior trim... head first. The current generation of Mustang also lacks forward collision warning in Europe, contributing to its low score.
"We are disappointed by the Ford Mustang Euro NCAP rating. Mustang is a safe car meeting, or exceeding, all applicable safety standards globally," Ford of Europe said in an emailed statement. "Ford has a proud history of producing the safest cars in the world and in Europe we have 11 cars with a 5* [sic] Euro NCAP rating in our current line-up."
Ford recently revealed the refreshed 2018 Mustang in the US, and it will make its way to Europe later this year. Ford told Euro NCAP that this new Mustang will include both forward collision warning and lane-keep assist as standard. It will undergo the same tests as soon as it is available.
NHTSA's crash tests may have awarded the Mustang five stars in the US, but there's another layer of testing that isn't as official. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety has its own battery of tests, and automakers take these results seriously, as well. In IIHS testing, the current Mustang scored "Good" in all tests except for the small-overlap front crash test, where it scored "Average." Still, that's a far cry from a two-star Euro NCAP rating.