Disappointing Crash Test: Is the Renault 5 Heading for Trouble?

This is somewhat the well-known story of the good student in the class, the Renault 5, being disliked by a too-severe teacher.

The new Renault 5, an electric and neo-retro embodiment of a French automotive legend, is under particular scrutiny in the latest Euro NCAP safety tests. Despite positioning itself as an innovative city electric car, it only managed to earn four stars, a result that raises questions both about its performance and about the rating system itself.

The Renault 5 stands out with a design faithful to the original R5 legacy and an electric powertrain promising environmentally friendly performance. However, during crash tests, the city car did not fully convince. Euro NCAP noted weaknesses in frontal collisions involving adult occupants, as well as mixed effectiveness of its driver assistance systems.

These driving aids, which include features like detection of oncoming vehicles, only achieved a satisfaction rate of 68%. This rating reflects a reality: many drivers ignore or deactivate these systems due to their complexity or lack of practicality in daily use. Yet, these technologies weigh heavily in the Euro NCAP scoring system, often at the expense of more fundamental safety aspects, such as structural integrity or passive equipment (airbags, seatbelts).

What if the problem comes from Euro NCAP?

For several years, Euro NCAP has increasingly prioritized advanced electronic systems, often perceived as gadgets. The emphasis on driver assistance features that are sometimes unused by drivers raises questions. Indeed, users’ real behavior does not always align with theoretical test scenarios. For example, lane departure alerts or automatic emergency braking, while effective in some cases, are often turned off because they are deemed intrusive or inappropriate for normal driving conditions.

This imbalance in the scoring system penalizes vehicles like the Renault 5, which offers generally satisfactory overall safety but suffers from a biased evaluation due to these criteria. Thus, models with excellent structural performance or well-thought-out design can unjustly fall behind compared to competitors that rely heavily on sometimes overhyped technologies.

Nevertheless, the Renault 5 remains an attractive offering. It modernizes an iconic silhouette while integrating technologies suited to current challenges, such as electrification. However, its positioning as an affordable city car imposes budget constraints. Renault has had to make compromises on certain aspects to maintain a competitive price, especially in comparison to premium models that are often favored in the ratings.

Euro NCAP, by favoring technological criteria that can sometimes be distant from drivers’ actual expectations, risks drifting away from its primary role: ensuring effective and accessible safety for all. The debate around the evaluation of driver assistance systems invites broader reflection on the future of crash tests and on how to weight useful technologies without neglecting the essentials.