Dacia Spring Electric Euro NCAP crash test

1 star. Marginal crash protection and little in the way of crash avoidance technology

The passenger compartment of the Spring remained stable in the frontal offset test. Readings of several parameters in the dummies’ legs were high, indicating poor protection, and structures in the dashboard presented a risk of injury to occupants of different sizes and to those sitting in different positions.  Protection of the driver dummy’s chest was also rated as poor, based on readings of chest compression during the test.  The pelvis of the driver was also poorly protected with dummy readings exceeding recommended values.  Analysis of the deceleration of the impact trolley during the test, and of the deformation of the barrier afterwards, revealed that the Spring would be a benign crash partner to other vehicles. In the full width rigid barrier test, the head of the rear passenger was penalised for the extent to which it moved forward, and protection was rated as poor.  Chest protection of both occupants was rated as marginal, based on measurements of compression.  In both the side barrier test and the more severe side pole impact, rib compression indicated marginal levels of chest protection, but that of other critical body areas was good. The Spring is not equipped with a centre airbag to protect against occupant to occupant injuries in side impacts. Tests on the front seats and head restraints demonstrated good protection against whiplash injures in the event of a rear-end collision. However, a geometric assessment of the rear seats indicated poor whiplash protection. The Spring has an advanced eCall system which partially fulfilled Euro NCAP’s requirements, and the car has no multi-collision braking system to prevent secondary impacts.  The score was penalised for the high forces needed to open the door post-impact.

In the frontal offset test, protection of the head and neck of the 6 year child were rated as weak, based on measured decelerations and tensile forces respectively.  The neck of the 10 year dummy was marginally protected.  In the side barrier impact, all critical body regions were well protected. The front passenger airbag can be switched off to allow a rearward facing child restraint to be used in that seating position. The labels indicating ISOFIX anchorages were not visible to someone installing a child restraint, and the Spring lost points in this part of the assessment.  Also, as a consequence of the poor marking, installation checks of ISOFIX child restraints were deemed a fail.  The Spring is not equipped with i-Size anchorages so i-Size child restraints cannot be used in the vehicle.

The protection provided by the bonnet to the head of a struck pedestrian was predominantly good or adequate, with poor results recorded on the stiff windscreen pillars. The bumper provided good or adequate protection to pedestrian's legs at all test positions. However, protection of the pelvis was mixed, some locations offering good protection and others poor. The autonomous emergency braking (AEB) system reacts only to other vehicles and does not detect vulnerable road users such as pedestrians and cyclists

A seatbelt reminder system is standard for all seats but the vehicle lacks a fatigue-detection system. Lane assistance is not available on the Spring.  A driver-set speed limiter is standard.  The autonomous emergency braking (AEB) system showed marginal performance in tests of its reaction to other vehicles.