BYD have succesfully passed a Russian crash test that was held to Euro NCAP standards, according to the Russian motoring website Auto-Dealer.ru.
The test was held at Dmitrovsky Poligon in late December 2007, but results have only just been released onto the internet. The BYD F3 is not equipped with any special safety equipment, its just airbags, one for the driver and one for the passenger, however, both seemed to operate perfectly on impact.
Although the front end of the car seems to fold up pretty easy, the Russians say the doors open fine, and the mannequins had enough ‘living space, and the door still opened after the crash test.
BYD got a final score of 10.2 points out of a maximum of 16 points.
Want more info? Check out the Auto-Dealer.ru site
Great news. Chinese cars each year better.
How do these tests in Russia compare to the same test standard in Europe. Is performance similar no matter where the test takes place?
Also, how does this Euro NCAP standard compare to similar testing in the US…(thinking back to the hatchback Aveo article I just read and the discrepancy between the test results on that vehicle.)
According to the americans their crash tests aer tougher than the European ones, and are also based on real life crashes using statistics from them to make up the star ratings. To me this seems sensible (on paper), but how it works in real life - I don’t know. The Euroncap results are tough and are about to get tougher. Would be interesting to see a host of Chinese cars put through their paces in these tests, if only the manuacturers would allow this.