Renault has long supported the work of Euro NCAP (and ANCAP in Australia) to promote the passive safety of its passenger cars, but now the French brand finds itself taking a back seat to the aspirations of the European and local crash testing authorities.
The company's Megane hatch scored a five-star Euro NCAP rating as long ago as 2002. That was the 'big bum' Megane at the time.
Six years later, a new generation of Megane was tested – and scored five stars again. When this model was launched here in 2010, all Renault passenger cars sold in Australia were rated five-star safe by Euro NCAP. Since then however, Renault's safety mantle has slipped.
First came the news that the Captur mini SUV – a five-star car in Europe – only garnered four stars in local (ANCAP) testing. Then, last month it was announced by Euro NCAP that the Megane had picked up a meagre three stars in the latest round of safety testing. Three stars... there are Australian-designed commercial vehicles that are rated higher than that.
"It's a safety rating that has come from Euro NCAP... for a vehicle that was conceived in 2008 – first tested, five-star vehicle," said Justin Hocevar, Renault Australia MD, during the week.
"Really, when tested again, from an occupant protection point of view, from a pedestrian point of view, it would be a five-star car."
Simply put, the updated Megane hasn't been updated enough to match the shifting goal posts of Euro NCAP's testing regime, as we explained in our article last month. Nearly six years ago we outlined the problems Euro NCAP faced if the criteria didn't move with the pace of automotive development – or if it outstripped that same pace of development. "We know that the testing regime now is significantly different from what it was in 2008, and therefore the score was harsh in Europe, but it's fair to say that at least one of the technicalities is being corrected very quickly," Hocevar explained to Australian journalists attending the local launch of the updated Megane.
"That really doesn't affect us, for two reasons: One, it was already in English – the rear seatbelt warning – and secondly Australian law requires everybody wear a seatbelt in the car and the driver is responsible for that. It's not really considered to be an issue here."
In other words, the Megane remains fundamentally the same five-star car it was back in 2008 – and should ANCAP reassess the updated Megane using the latest Euro NCAP data, it's likely to remain a five-star car, since the local crowd don't penalise a car for lack of multi-lingual seatbelt reminders... we hope. Hocevar hasn't been in touch with ANCAP, so he was unable to say whether the Megane would be reviewed by ANCAP.
"We haven't had any advice from ANCAP on that safety rating. As it stands, today, they still classify the Megane as a five-star vehicle."
The Renault boss will presumably have his fingers crossed that either ANCAP continue to list the Megane as a five-star car, or extrapolate from the new model's Euro NCAP data, that the new Megane is also a five-star car, in the Australian context.
Listing a newer, safer car lower than an earlier model (and older competitors that were tested using an earlier, less demanding rendition of the testing regime) is not only unfair to the car company, it's confusing for the new-car buyer too.