A new announcement by NCAP that it is to include assessments of the effectiveness of autonomous safety devices in its industry standard star ratings could be “the most significant fleet safety step in years,” says Arval.
Shaun Sadlier, Head of Consulting at the leading vehicle leasing and fleet management company, said that the move would both provide information on which technologies delivered results and encourage widespread uptake.
“While not all fleets make use of the NCAP star ratings when drawing up their choice lists, they tend to have a wide-ranging effect on the safety equipment that manufacturers choose to fit to company cars and vans.
“If you look back at the early days of NCAP, their ratings helped to create the situation that we have today where items such as airbags and seatbelt pre-tensioners are very much baseline standard safety kit.
“Now, with a new generation of autonomous safety devices arriving on company cars and vans, they look set to play a similar role again, providing information that fleets can use to make buying decisions about the new technology.”
Developments such as autonomous emergency braking, active steering, driver monitoring and vehicle data exchange are all starting to make their way onto fleet cars, even if initially in quite small numbers and at the higher end of the market, he said. Many of these devices appear very impressive in manufacturer brochures and videos but there had been no real independent assessment of their effectiveness.
“Two decades ago, fleets would often specify that only cars with ABS and airbags would be allowed on their fleet because independent testing showed they could prevent injury and save lives. And now fleets are looking for guidance on which devices they should be adopting today.
“Now by including them in their testing, NCAP will be able to tell us about their effectiveness, the benefits they bring when fitted and how they contribute to the overall safety performance of each model.
“Really, the only issue with this news is that NCAP is not planning on starting testing until 2020 for some devices and 2022-2024 for others. Until then, there is likely to be a vacuum in terms of available information.”
Shaun added that, since the publication of Driving at Work a decade or more ago and growth in the profile of Corporate Manslaughter in the industry, there had been no significant step change in how fleets approach safety.
“It is an area where we have perhaps been waiting for the next leap forward when it comes to reducing accident rates. NCAP’s move could potentially be the most significant step forward for fleet safety step in years.
“However, the ratings alone won’t create positive change – fleets will have a responsibility to use that information to select the safest vehicles and the best safety specification.”
