Fiat Panda panned by safety chiefs | Advice - Car News Dec 2018

15:52 Wednesday 05 Dec 2018

The recently-facelifted Fiat Panda has suffered the ignominy of a zero-star rating in the latest round of Euro NCAP new car safety testing.

The ageing supermini's miserable display included just a seven per cent score for Safety Assistance, performing little better in the Child Occupant Safety category where it acheived a mark of 16 per cent.

Marks in the Adult Occupant and Vulnerable Road User categories were also under halfway at 45 per cent and 47 per cent respectively, with the Panda deemed unworthy of even a single star as a result.

Last tested by Euro NCAP in 2011, the Panda is clearly showing its age, but in a bad day all round for the Fiat-Chrysler group their all-new Jeep Wrangler could only muster one star out of five overall thanks to its paucity of driver-assistance systems. The Wrangler comes with a seatbelt reminder and driver-set speed limiter but little else, scoring 32 per cent for Safety Assistance as a result.

“It is truly disappointing to see a brand-new car being put on sale in 2018 with no autonomous braking system and no lane assistance. It is high time we saw a product from the FIAT-Chrysler group offering safety to rival its competitors", said Euro NCAP chief Michiel van Ratingen.

In contrast, of the nine cars put through the latest batch of Euro NCAP tests, the other seven all achieved a full five stars overall. The Audi Q3, Jaguar I-PACE, Peugeot 508, Volvo V60 and S60, the Hyundai Santa Fe, and BMW X5 all got the maximum rating, despite the latter two suffering some airbag issues during testing.