Encap...
 

After watching TG last night - anyone know the RX8s ENCAP/NCAP (whatever it's called...)

Ta.

I was at the filming of this weeks Top Gear and spoke to the chap from EuroENCAP and he said that it was unlikely that they would test the RX8 as it was a relatively low volume car (sales wise)

I think the costs of testing the car would be prohibitive as well. He mentioned that manufacturers like Toyota and Renault will pay all of the costs of their testing as they know it will get a good rating, so if Mazda are reading this they should perhaps consider this.

On another note, I didn't see the programme last night but after they had finished filming the Aston Martin JC started it up and boy did it sound good. I think I will have to get saving now and trade in the RX8.

Chris

I too watched TG last night and have to say the Euro ncap was very interesting.
I have to admit that my past view about safety hasn't gone beyond the questions such as "how many airbags does it have and does it have side impact beams" I now realise a car can have all those but still cause huge injury even in a relitively low spped accident. Considering 90% of the miles I do are on the motorwayand at speeds double or more of the NCAP tested 40mph it is a somewhat frighting thought that the new car I will be driving is an unknown quanity for safety in a crash:(

Ed

If you actualy have a look at the euroncap website very few cars have been tested.

I was under the impression that the 8 is going to be tested, but maybe not. It does talk the talk tho, but it would be nice if it could crash the crash... um I mean walk the walk...

funny that morgan i was about to ask the very same question.

If the rx8 is less that 4 i will have to definately rethink buying it.

TG last night scared the shit out of me and the wife.

Running around now trying to find out what my lexus is and her 323

What you have to remember is that very few motorway accidents are at a closing speed of even 40mph or against anyhting as solid as a concrete block. In the vast majority of motorway accidents you hit another car whilst you are braking and the speed at impact is typically less than 20mph and the object you hit has crumple zones to absorb the impact as well.

The only type of accident that often has impact speeds of greater than 40mph are head on impacts with other cars when you hit a car travelling in the opposite direction.

Having said all that it's still preferable to have a car that reacts well in those rare situations - I believe Mazda's are reasonabley good performers in crash tests.

Neither of these have been tested by NCAP.

The last Mazda to be tested was the MX-5 which was tested last year and received 4 stars.

im looking at the euroncap site at the moment.

http://www.euroncap.com

And i have a question...

what exactly does the pedestrian test rating mean ?


Is this the marks out of ten for how to mow down a pedestrian in the most original way... joking aside what exactly is it?

Although it doesn't give anything more than a guide the Mazda MX-5 is a 4 star rating as are a no. of the key competitors in the RX8 class, ie s2000 and TT.

Andy - I think you've reassured me!

ED

I'm sure theres an expanation on the site, but I'd guess a rating on damage to a pedestrian.

The RX-8 Should do realy well here as its bonet is specificaly designed ( supa-new aluminium coned thingey) to protect pedestrians in the event of an impact.


EDIT :- check out http://www.euroncap.com/tests.htm

It's how much damage you do to a pedestrian when hitting them. The lower the rating (a la Mazda MX-5) the more likely the impact is to be fatal if you run someone over.:(

Well i find that puzzling that so few cars have been tested.


The way in which top gear last night presented it they had quite an extensive list.

Saxo, escort, merc and the poor sod with the deamoo nexia

Here what do you think of that koeniggggggggggabbaegggg

Superb lookin thing. Gave Zonda a rite run for its money.

Wonder how much one of these things cost. Not that i could ever afford one.

Although i could ask my wifes Uncle hes minted...

Ncap seem to be quite good a t publishing the data on their website so I assume thats all they have tested (and they dont shy away from poor results either).

Looking over the results does give you some food for thought, comparing my current car against an ncap 5 starer like the mig mercs and passengers come off a lot better in the merc (but not a huge suprise).

Continuing on the safety theme...
I have just been looking again at the interior 360 degree view, those Aluminium parts of the seat/headrestraint look like they would result in a bit of a headache in the result of a whiplash type accident:(

Ed

The NCAP system came in to replace the existing crash test system which was far less comprehensive but had tested far more models. I think that the funding for NCAP is part of the reason for it's relatively low amount of cars tested.



The Koenigsakdflkasfl was £350,000 IIRC - shame it doesn't have 4 seats!:D

I'm sure I read in some of the earlier literature that the RX-8 was going to be tested and that they were going for a 5 star result. Certainly it expexted to get one of the best pedestrian scores as the bonnet is specially designed to deform.

One for mazda to answer I suppose.

Well it'd give em a good PR boost if nothing else.

Adverts along the lines of

Best engine 2003, 5 star Ncap, best pedestrian safety.

So what else? European car of the year award?

But the only thing missing, is an award for its sporting value, that is still under some debate.

the only thing missing is the bloody car itself.

:D Too true!

The crash tests on Top Gear made quite an impression on me too, until I thought about it for a bit.

The impression they gave was that if you have an accident in a 4 star car the passenger compartment will stay intact and you will be OK. Whereas, if you are in a 2 or 3 star car you will be injured. But that is only true in this particular type of crash at 40 mph. At 50 (or maybe even 45) the 4 star car would deform just like the 2 and 3 star ones, and at 30 or 35 the 2 and 3 star ones would hold together just as well a 4 star car. Of course you don't know what speed accident you are going to have and with a higher star rating you are covered for more scenarios. In other words the more stars it has the lower your chances of being killed or injured in an accident. But I think we all assumed that anyway, didn't we?

Technology is always progressing and just about all cars are safer than they were a few years ago. It would be nice to see some test results for the RX-8, but if we don't get them I will just assume it's an improvement on my current car - it's certainly got more airbags and other safety features.

I think the devil is in the detail with the tests.

The 'star' rating is only an average of the side/front impacts. The acrual report goes into more detail (and I'm sure the manufactueres get reams of data).

Something lie the Merc E class gets 5 starts, but thats an average score of:
" Front 13(81%) Side 18(100%) Belt Reminder 2 Overall 33"

And then goes into more detail.

It does tend to state how well it passed the tests. On some cars they say all passenger doors were able to be opened normaly (not many) and other things like a very stable structure (suggesting a better possible performance against other types of accident?).

Theres enough detail there to see why a car scraping 4 stars loses out in a big way to a car getting 5 stars etc.

I can't assume that as I currently drive a Volvo which has more bags than Elton John!! I'm not overly worried about the RX-8 though as I'm confident that it will protect me in all but the most severe accidents - car manufacturers just can't risk anything else nowadays.

My only thinking as a point of weakness is from a Side impact, I know the rear doors lock down into the body but I can't see how this is as strong as a permanently welded beam?

Ed

I would be inclined to agree, surely the B pillar built into the doors is not as tuff as it would be if it was prefabricated into the cabin.

Watching that last night i wouldnt want to be someone owning a freelander after the results last night.

Yes i agree that the test results are subjective as they dont represent every form of crash and so forth and so on.

But whacking a concrete block at 40 mph is a fair repesentation to give some idea how the vehicle would fair in a faster crash.


A car that disintigrates at 40 mph aint gonna last at 70mph.

A vehicle which has a favourable outcome at 40 is surely going to have a better chance at 70 than the former car.

I know your going to say the laws of physics etc disagree with my hypothosis but there must be some logic in my argument.

Just to point out the info from Mazda's crash testing. In the hardback book on page 71 it states;

"Mazda's internal crash tests have proven that the RX-8 meets the world's toughest safety requirements with flying colors, obtaining the highest ratings in frontal, rear and side-collision, equivalent to five-star ratings in the U.S. NCAP and an overall four-star rating in the Euro NCAP."


so it seems that we shouldn't worry too much , including about side impacts.:)