01/07/2026
🔔 Euro NCAP: saving lives with improved rear underrun protection at RTX Expo, UK 🔔
Euro NCAP’s Director of Strategic Development, Matthew Avery, presenting research at the Road Transport Expo in Stoneleigh, UK, revealed the significant lives lost due to underrun incidents involving trailers due to current rear safety protection rules and weaknesses in the ADAS systems on cars. 🚗
Present on a panel at the event this week were supporters of National Highways, the Swedish Road Association (Trafikverket), and the German test organisation ADAC, as well as representatives from the UK government, the CLCCR trailer association, and the insurer Allianz. With an overall commitment to improving road safety, the panel highlighted the complex next steps and challenges of mitigating underrun collisions. 🛣️
Mike Higgins of National Highways: "Our objective is for no one to be harmed on the strategic road network, and we believe by partnering with Euro NCAP and like-minded organisations, we can have access to greater expertise to make that happen." 🚨
"Modern cars have evolved in their safety performance, but it is still a challenge for some of them to reliably detect stationary trucks on motorways and to avoid a collision, especially at higher speeds such as on the motorway. This is our experience from a wide range of testing, including seven vehicles in four scenarios representing real-life situations," said Max Oswald of ADAC. ⚠️
Rikard Frederiksson from the Swedish Road Association: "Highways in Sweden are some of the safest in Europe, but rear underrun accidents remain the most devastating for drivers and their passengers on these roads. A multi-solution approach is required to meet Vision Zero targets. Improvements in the robustness of ADAS technologies to prevent drivers running into stationary trucks and, at the same time, strengthening of rear underrun protection on trailers to protect passengers when they do so, both play a part." 🚚
Lionel Curtis of CLCCR, representing trailer manufacturers from 15 European countries, said, "We welcome the initiative to create safer roads, but the legislation R58.03 has only been in place for 4 years, and for manufacturers to put in place a redesign on their trucks is a huge challenge, particularly in this current climate. We can’t expect a quick fix." ⚙️
Donald MacDonald of the UK Department of Transport welcomed the research and suggested that the results of this testing should be presented by Euro NCAP as part of the UNECE meeting at the end of September; however, it was likely to take significant time to implement a new regulation, and industry should consider alternatives in the meantime, such as a voluntary standard as in the US. 🤝
Finally, Gerry Ross of the Insurer Allianz noted to the panel that 20% of all reported accidents on the roads involve a rear–end collision. When it’s a car-to-car collision, there is a 1% chance of fatalities, but this increases to 30-50% with the involvement of a truck. ‘It is essential that we work together to bring this number down to zero.’ He encouraged fleets to consider star ratings produced by Euro NCAP and other similar organisations in their procurement strategies. 📈
Matthew Avery said Euro NCAP would continue this work with new testing to come and further ADAS robustness development in the planning. Alternatives such as a voluntary standard or kitemark would be considered together with industry. 🤲🏾
Read the full press release here 👉 https://www.euroncap.com/press-media/euro-ncap-reveals-fatal-flaws-in-trailer-underrun-safety-that-cost-400-lives-every-year/ 🚗
Watch Matthew Avery explain this issue here 👉 https://youtu.be/8ByOioRdylA 🚗
