Ford Mustang scores 2-star rating in Euro NCAP crash tests

The Ford Mustang has scored a disappointing 2-star safety rating in the Euro NCAP crash tests. It has thus become the first car from a mainstream manufacturer since 2008 to receive such poor ratings. Interestingly, the sixth-gen Mustang is the first ever model to be sold in RHD markets like Europe. As a result, this was the muscle car's debut at the Euro NCAP crash tests.

The Mustang's low score has been attributed to lack of any autonomous emergency braking (AEB) system. Moreover, the crash tests revealed that the front airbags of the car didn't produce sufficient inflation to insulate the driver and passenger's heads. This resulted in the driver crash test dummy's head contacting the steering wheel through the airbag. Similarly, the passenger crash test dummy also bottomed out the airbag against the dashboard.

Tests on the rear seat passengers further revealed some worrying observations. During the full width rigid barrier test, the rear seat passengers slipped under the seatbelt. This phenomenon is called submarining and results in injuries to the knee, femur and pelvis region. The rear seatbelt was also observed to be applying high tensile force on the chest of the occupant, due to the absence of pre-tensioners and load limiters. All of this resulted in the vehicle scoring just 72% points in adult occupancy.

Additionally, the Mustang's safety score was adversely affected in the child safety department. During the side barrier test, the head of a 10-year crash test dummy bottomed out the side curtain airbag and hit the car's c-pillar. This resulted in the Mustang losing all points for the 10-year dummy in this test. In the frontal offset test, protection of the 10-year dummy was rated at least adequate while that of 6-year dummy was rated as good. The Mustang thus scored a meagre 32% points in child occupancy protection.

The car scored 64% in pedestrian protection and just 16% in the safety assist parameter. However, Ford has informed NCAP that the updated model that will go on sale later this year will come with pre-collision assist features like pedestrian detection, forward collision warning and autonomous emergency braking.