Euro NCAP have tested two electric cars from the Renault group recently, the new Dacia Spring and now the Zoe. Both cars are fully electric and have not performed well at all, which is surprising as Renault was an early firm favourite back in the early 2000s when the Euro NCAP was relatively new.

The Dacia Spring was tested and it achieved a one star safety rating. Euro NCAP said that “its performance in crash tests is downright problematic”. However, the Zoe is a much more expensive car and the previous model achieved a five star safety rating back in 2013, but the new model got a zero star rating – effectively failing the NCAP test.

Euro NCAP said one of the reasons the new Zoe faired so badly is due to the company removing the head airbag from the car, as mentioned above Renault was an early pioneer in 2001 with the Laguna which was the first car to get five stars in the crash test – the use of such an airbag aided them achieve this.

Renault have commented on the testing conducted and say the testing procedure undertaken by Euro NCAP has changed a lot since 2013 and the company says the Zoe is a safe car.

“Zoe was launched in 2013 and received five stars with Euro NCAP protocol at that time. The Euro NCAP protocol has since 2013 undergone five changes. With the same equipment, a model can lose up to two stars in each protocol change.”

Renault

The new Renault Zoe is only the third car to only get zero stars on the crash test, by Euro NCAP.