The dominance of touch screens and touch panels in modern cars has prompted Euro NCAP experts to make changes to their main testing program: with the next update in it will take into account the ease of access to frequently used functions (lights, wipers, microclimate, etc.), for abuse of touch buttons the score will be reduced.
The independent European testing program for new cars, Euro NCAP, has been operating since 1997 and is regularly improved; its goal is to increase the level of safety of new products entering the car market. The Euro NCAP program underwent its last major update in 2020 and it can already be stated that manufacturers have adapted to it, since all cars tested by Euro NCAP in 2022 and 2023 received good or excellent ratings, that is, four or five stars in the final rating.
In recent years, Euro NCAP has paid more attention to active safety than passive safety, so some models receive high ratings even with weak crash test scores. The American Insurance Institute for Highway Safety IIHS is much stricter in this regard and does not award the highest rating for poor crash test scores, but Euro NCAP, of course, has the right to its own opinion — it’s even good that the approach of European experts differs from the approach of their American colleagues , consumers have something to compare.
Euro NCAP will continue to place increased emphasis on active safety as part of its core programme, while Euro NCAP has recently also carried out separate testing of electronic driver assistants in passenger cars and light commercial vehicles. The British magazine Auto Express, citing Euro NCAP technical director Richard Schram, reports that from 2026 the main program will take into account the ergonomic features of the car — this is the reaction of experts to the fact that automakers have begun to abuse touch panels and touch screens.
We examined why sensors are bad using the example of the VW Golf, but in general, Tesla is considered the main instigator of the touch revolution: in its models, even the control of wipers, lights and power plant modes is built into the touch screen on the center console. Touch screens, which have fallen sharply in price in recent years, are rapidly displacing physical buttons from the interiors of new cars, and Euro NCAP experts rightly consider this a bad trend. Basic functions that the driver uses regularly, including wipers, lights, microclimate and heated seats, quick audio system settings (volume adjustment, switching to another track/radio station) and the hazard warning button, should be available in blind mode, that is, when using them the driver should not be distracted from the road. Unfortunately, in the vast majority of modern cars this is no longer possible, so Euro NCAP wants to fix this.
In a future protocol of the main Euro NCAP program, a car could be penalized by several points in the “Safe Driving” category for overusing the sensors, and this should, in theory, encourage manufacturers to return to normal, physical buttons. In general, we are waiting for the updated program and its first experimental subjects.