2020 Land Rover Defender Gets 5 Star Euro NCAP Safety Rating
Many automotive enthusiasts are giving Land Rover a tough time for making the new Defender a little TOO refined and modern. Some feel that Land Rover should have taken a simpler pick-up truck chassis and ‘souped’ it up to luxury levels. But that’s exactly what Mercedes-Benz did with their X-Class, and that car lasted all of 2 years in production. So perhaps the only way to keep the Defender alive was to thoroughly modernise it. And the results show they did a good job of that, at least in terms of safety.
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The Euro NCAP assessment of the 2020 Defender shows the car is lightyears ahead of its predecessor in terms of safety. It scored 5 stars, with its weakest aspect being ‘Vulnerable Road Users’ – where it scored just 71%. Adult and Child occupant safety was rated at 85%.
Here’s something that might surprise you – there are no records of the previous Land Rover Defender’s Euro NCAP rating. This was a car from before my time, but it seems like Land Rover never needed to submit it for a safety rating at all. They did give it little updates to improve safety (like airbags), but by 2015/16 they just couldn’t sell the car in Europe anymore.
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The new Defender not only comes with a rigid unibody chassis, but the following active safety features:
- Emergency Braking – Designed to detect if a potential frontal collision with another vehicle may occur and display a forward alert to warn the driver to brake. If the driver doesn’t respond, the vehicle will deploy emergency braking to reduce the severity of the possible impact.
- Blind Spot Assist† – A flashing icon in the appropriate wing mirror helps alert the driver to obstacles in, or quickly approaching, your blind spot.
- 3D Surround Camera† – Assists the driver during low-speed manoeuvres using advanced camera technology to provide a 3D view of Defender in its environment on the central Pivi Pro display.
- Clear Exit Monitor† – Helps warn of a possible threat when preparing to open any door from the inside using sensors in the bumper to monitor approaching traffic.
- Adaptive Cruise Control† – Maintains a safe distance from the vehicle in front. If the vehicle ahead stops, the technology will bring the vehicle to a smooth halt.
- Driver Condition Monitor – Designed to sense driver fatigue by monitoring steering, brake and accelerator inputs to provide alerts when tiredness is detected.
- Lane Keep Assist – Helps to detect unintentional lane drift and applies corrective counter-steering to maintain lane position.
- Rear Collision Monitor† – If a vehicle approaching from behind is not slowing down, the vehicle will attempt to alert the approaching driver by automatically flashing the hazard lights.
- Rear Traffic Monitor† – Designed to warn of vehicles, pedestrians or other hazards approaching from either side – particularly useful when reversing out of a parking bay.
- Traffic Sign Recognition and Adaptive Speed Limiter – Informs the driver of the current speed limit and adjusts the vehicle speed when entering new speed limit zones automatically.
- Wade Sensing – Ultrasonic sensors in the door mirrors provide real-time information about the water depth when wading.
- eCall+: System is designed to send an automatic message to an emergency call centre in case of a crash or collision, which includes additional location information and the number of seat belts in use.
- Multi Collision Brake: Automatically applies the brakes to prevent or mitigate a subsequent impact when the vehicle has been involved in a collision of sufficient severity.