New Range Rover & Range Rover Sport Earn Five-Star Euro Safety Ratings

The new Range Rover and Range Rover Sport both earned the maximum five-star rating on the Euro-NCAP crash and safety test, continuing the Range Rover product family’s perfect five-star record on the test going back to the original 2011 Evoque.

The Euro-NCAP test isn't technically recognized in the United States, which uses the IIHS and NHTSA NCAP (New Car Assessment Program) instead. However, the European test puts a far higher emphasis on the functionality of assisted and augmented safety systems, like emergency braking and blind spot monitoring systems, which play a major role in new car safety. The European test also has a larger focus on how the vehicle impacts pedestrians and cyclists in a crash with the vehicle in question. So although you have to keep in mind that there are sometimes slightly different safety features for different markets, a good Euro-NCAP score for a global car like Land Rover's products is a good guide to how well it will score on the American tests.

The new Range Rover and Range Rover Sport are the first two Land Rovers to utilize the Modular Longitudinal Architecture (MLA) platform, which is replacing the D7 platform as Land Rover’s primary full-size chassis. The new Range Rover is 50% stiffer than the outgoing model; Range Rover Sport is 35% stiffer. The new platform uses mixed metals, instead of the almost-entirely aluminum D7 platform.

Watching the tests for both vehicles, it's clear that both of these vehicles are incredibly safe in a crash. The Range Rover scored 84% for adult occupants, 87% for child occupants, 72% for vulnerable road users, and 82% for safety assist. Range Rover Sport comes in at 85% adult occupants, 85% child occupants, 69% vulnerable road users, and 82% safety assist. The five-star ratings account for "overall excellent performance in crash protection and well equipped with comprehensive and robust crash avoidance technology."

Watching the videos released by Euro-NCAP makes it clear the huge strides that have been made by Land Rover, and indeed all automakers, over the past few decades. Though a modern Land Rover may be a write-off after a crash easier than an older one, each successive generation has been more and more a safe haven in a crash for the occupants. In the Range Rover videos, you can see how the vehicle sacrifices its extremities to preserve the cabin. In modern car design, much more than preserving the vehicle as a whole, the intent is to make sure that the occupants and their space are not damaged or intruded upon. Perhaps the most famous recent example of this in the Land Rover sphere is the video of a new Defender 110 rolling over six times at highway speed, ending up an absolute total loss -- but the passengers walked away.

The next frontier of vehicle safety, though, is as much about preventing accidents as anything -- and it's also focused on the people outside the vehicle. Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) systems are the latest word in safety, and their sensing and beeping and chiming and automatic reacting are the future of driving. Early ADAS systems focused on other vehicles and avoiding collisions with them. With that space largely conquered, new technology especially focuses on pedestrian safety. Hitting a person or a cyclist might cause minimal damage to the vehicle, but it puts the pedestrian in a world of hurt more than being inside a vehicle in any car crash in any car built in decades. The Range Rover lines handle this with technology like Autonomous Emergency Braking, Lane Keep Assist, Rear Collision Monitor, and Driver Condition Response.

These ratings are a good sign for the eventual American crash testing for the new Range Rovers, and certainly, they should make any American Range Rover buyer more than confident in the safety of their newest purchase.

Range Rover Crash Test

Range Rover Sport Crash Test