38 | JANUARY 2020
Motoring
Read online at www.proinstaller.co.uk
JUST ONE-IN-10 NEW VANS
FEATURES LIFE-SAVING
SAFETY TECH SET TO BECOME
MANDATORY BY 2022
•Exclusive What Car? Vans
research reveals 88% of all new
vans fail to meet any of the pro-
posed European safety stand-
ards
•Automatic emergency braking,
lane keep assist and reversing
cameras are some of the technol-
ogies which will have to be fitted
to every new car and van from
2022, according to proposals by
the European Commission*
•To find the latest van reviews,
visit: www.whatcar.com/catego-
ry/van (https://www.whatcar.
com/class/vans)
Just one-in-10 new vans on sale
today features lifesaving tech-
nology that is set to become man-
datory across all cars and vans by
2022, according to exclusive anal-
ysis by What Car? Vans (https://
www.whatcar.com/class/vans).
Van fatalities have dropped by
38% since 2007** against a 24%
rise in the number of registered
vans on the road, but the findings
show there is still plenty of room
for improvement. While some
van manufacturers are fitting
important safety features, such
as Automatic Emergency Braking
(AEB) to their vehicles, 88% of
all vans on sale in the UK today
do not meet any of the upcoming
European Commission proposed
safety standards.
What Car? Vans analysed every
van derivative on sale in the
UK*** and while many top-of-the
range examples come fitted with
multiple safety features as stand-
ard, lower specification models
typically do without the poten-
tially life-saving technologies.
The European Commission has
proposed to make eight safety
technologies mandatory across
new cars and vans by 2022*.
These include driver drowsiness
and distraction alerts, intelli-
gent speed assistance, reversing
cameras or sensors, data recorder
in case of an accident, lane-keep
assistance, advanced emergency
braking, and crash-test improved
safety belts.
What Car’s analysis found
just 12% of all new vans on sale
have one of the eight mandatory
safety technologies as standard,
while only one in five vans come
with at least one of the eight as
an optional extra. AEB, which
automatically applies the brakes
if it senses an imminent colli-
sion, is standard in one-in five
of the 228 new vans and pick-
ups on sale in the UK. Studies
by Euro NCAP, the European
vehicle safety standards agency,
previously found AEB reduces
real-word rear-end collisions by
38%***.
Other technologies, including
Lane Keeping Assistance, which
automatically keeps vans on the
centre of the lane, was available
as standard in only 2% of all
new vans on sale, and an option-
al extra in 18%. New technolo-
gies, including Intelligent Speed
Assistance, which helps drivers
to avoid exceeding the speed
limit, and automatically slows
the vehicle down when the limit
drops, is found in just 3% of new
vans on sale, while crash-test
improved seat-belts and accident
data recorders are not fitted as
standard to any van currently on
sale in the UK.
Despite van drivers covering
on average 13,000 miles a year
driver distraction and drows-
iness alerts were standard on
just one-in-10 vans on sale, and
an optional extra in 11%. In
2012, Euro NCAP tested some of
Europe’s best-selling vans and
called on “manufacturers to offer
these vehicles with higher levels
of safety equipment” after many
of the models tested were found
to lack basic safety equipment
such as electronic stability control
(ESC) .
Van manufacturers have since
made improvements to driver,
passenger and pedestrian safety.
In the latest Euro NCAP tests,
for example, the Ford Transit
achieved a five star rating.
Jim Holder, editorial director
of What Car? Vans, said: “There
are more than four million vans
on the road today. Van drivers
shouldn’t be waiting for legisla-
tion to come into force to have
access to the latest safety tech as
standard. Though the industry
has made strides in recent years,
it clearly still has a lot more work
to do.”
To find read the latest van
reviews, visit: https://www.
whatcar.com/class/vans
*https://eur-lex.europa.eu/resource.html?uri=cellar:f7e29905-59b7-11e8-ab41-01aa75ed71a1.0003.02/DOC_1&format=PDF **https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/
reported-road-casualties-great-britain-annual-report-2017 ***What Car? Analysed the specification brochures for every single van and pick-up derivative currently on sale
in the UK, including their trim variations. In total, more than 220 different van and pick-ups were analysed as part of the research. ****https://www.euroncap.com/en/press-
media/press-releases/study-confirms-high-effectiveness-of-low-speed-autonomous-emergency-https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/
attachment_data/file/808555/road-traffic-estimates-https://www.euroncap.com/en/press-media/press-releases/euro-ncap-tests-the-safety-of-business-and-family-vans/