Euro NCAP will adopt new star-rating system for van tests by 2027

May 8, 2025

Automotive safety testing body Euro NCAP will use a new star-based rating system for its van tests.

Future Euro NCAP test will adopt the 1- to 5-star ratings currently used by passenger cars when it overhauls its safety testing regime for light commercial vehicles, mostly likely during 2026.

Euro NCAP introduced its a medal-based rating system with Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum awards for its Commercial Van Ratings in 2021 but will switch to the more commonly-known numbering system used in its car test to help avoid confusion and to simplify its ratings.

"The vans will change to stars by 2027," Matthew Avery, Euro NCAP director of strategy development, told Van Reviewer.

He added: "We found consumers felt that the van ratings being medals was confusing, and so they translated it to star ratings themselves. People looked at our ratings and took Gold or Platinum and said that's four and five stars. Everyone is used to stars for safety ratings, so when we spoke to the truck makers before launching our HGV test, we decided we'd use the star ratings."

Avery says future van test will, therefore adopt the new star rating, in-line with both passenger cars and heavy trucks.

"It was very interesting that when they were explaining [the medals] to their teams internally, they didn't get it. They had to spend more time trying to explain the medal system. I remember having that conversation with Ford about what a medal is compared to a star rating," he said.

Euro NCAP intends to change its testing process for 2026 where vans will be expected to have the same ADAS requirements as passenger cars. The van rating will then only consider standard fitment safety system, and will introduce the new star-ratings as the tests are carried out.

Speaking about the initial decision to use a medal-based system, Avery said:

"Originally we wanted to separate vans [testing] from cars where we went for star ratings. Now we're adding trucks as well, we're going to have a commercial vehicle program and we're going to have a passenger car program. So we will have these two different programs which are very, very separate. Because the audience we've got is a separate audience - it's a fleet or it's a B2B conversation with commercial vehicles - we're not so worried about car ratings getting mixed up with commercial vehicle ratings."

All current vans tested have also now been immediately reclassified based on the star rating system.

For 2025, Euro NCAP has re-awarded each van with a star rating following its assessment in 2024. These included some of Europe’s best-selling models from Citroën, FIAT, Ford, Iveco, LEVC, Mercedes-Benz, Nissan, Opel/Vauxhall, Peugeot, Renault, and VW, as well as brands from China, including Farizon Automotive and Maxus.