Tesla Model Y awarded highest-ever safety score
Safety organisation EuroNCAP gives three new electric cars five-star safety ratings
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Safety first – it’s the golden rule drilled in by your parents from walking age, only to be reinforced vehemently the moment you learn to drive.
Electric cars are pretty much everywhere now, yet they can (falsely) have a bad rep because some people consider them not as safe as combustion cars. Yet we can happily report that this myth has been well and truly BUSTED by safety organisation EuroNCAP.
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Three electric cars have just received five-star ratings in the latest round of safety testing. But the BIGGEST news of all is that the Tesla Model Y has set a new record for the highest score in the safety assist category: 98%.
The Model Y is Tesla’s newest SUV, released in 2020 to tap into the very popular mid-sized SUV family market. It’s currently undergoing safety testing before deliveries start arriving in the UK around December 2022.
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The Funky Cat is a small electric hatchback and is Chinese-owned ORA's first build. Wey's Coffee 01 is a large electric SUV, and like ORA, Wey is owned by Great Wall Motors. The size difference, price range and massive design variety across these three cars demonstrates how safe EVs really are. All shapes and sizes perform extraordinarily well, so you can be confident your electric car will diligently protect you, even if you aren’t driving the biggest beast on the road.
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One category stood out in particular: safety assist. All three cars scored above 90%! They’re all kitted out with safety tech – think lane assist, autonomous emergency braking, and blind spot assist. These are just a few of the features you can expect to find in new electric cars.
Hopefully, this will help to erase the slightly irrational worry that electric cars aren’t safe because they are overly smart and are too close to self-driving cars – we've got more on what that means in our autonomous driving article. In fact, EVs are setting the trend for the level of kit that comes as standard in cars to keep you and your loved ones safe.
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The proof is in the pudding – Tesla's Model Y hit 98% for its safety assist systems. This is partly due to its lane support system and camera-based monitoring system, which both received 100%. It also scored 97% for adult occupant protection and 87% for child occupant protection.
For us on the reviewing end, it makes us happy to know we can confidently tell electric car buyers they'll be as safe as possible behind the wheel of their EV!
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While we wait for these cars to reach UK shores, here are some of our top EV picks, and you can be sure they're brimming with safety tech too. Our online showroom is stocked with electric cars and you can filter by safety assists too, or use the Help Me Choose tool to get search results tailored to your safety needs.
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Self-driving cars could hit UK roads next year
By Freda Lewis-Stempel