The Euro NCAP organization, specialized in crash tests, will change its rating scale soon. And the new parameters could be expensive for certain manufacturers, including Tesla.
Created at the end of the 1990s, the European New Car Assessment Program (or Euro NCAP) is an independent international organization, to which we owe the famous “crash tests”. Crash tests which allow the passive safety of vehicles to be tested, and which reward the best manufacturers with precious stars.
A new protocol for crash tests in 2026
Also, when a motorist is about to choose their future vehicle, many parameters come into account. The size of the vehicle, comfort, price, but also autonomy (for electric cars), without forgetting safety. In this regard, most vehicles today obtain the precious five stars, synonymous with optimal safety.
If Euro NCAP applies the same protocol for all vehicles, the latter will soon be modified, from 2026. On this occasion, new parameters will come into consideration, and this could notably affect the American Tesla.
The “all-touch” questioned again
Indeed, while the trend is towards “ all touch », It is precisely this absence of buttons which will be scrutinized by Euro NCAP. Remember that according to a study published in 2022, all touchscreen would not tend to make life easier for drivers, quite the contrary…
Concretely, the new scale put in place by Euro NCAP should require having access to physical buttons to activate certain commands. This concerns the windshield wipers, the horn, the warnings, the emergency calls… and the indicators.
This last point could notably impact Tesla, which has chosen on its new Model 3 to swap traditional controls for touch controls located on the steering wheel. This could therefore result in a penalty from Euro NCAP, and the impossibility for the models concerned to claim the maximum five-star rating.
According to many observers (notably Matthew Avery, director of Euro NCAP), the tendency to favor a large touch screen to the detriment of traditional buttons would tend to force drivers to take their eyes off the road, and consequently increase the risk of distraction-related accidents.
Source : Ars Technica
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