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Bring Back Buttons: Euro NCAP’s President on safer cars and saner driving
Cars packed with features now come as standard, but at what cost?
Russell Campbell talks to Euro NCAP’s president, Céline Vallaude, to discuss the challenges it faces now and in the future.
Since it first crashed a car into a barrier back in 1997, Euro NCAP has changed the way drivers think about safety – and the way carmakers build cars. By introducing a competitive star rating system, the organisation forced manufacturers to take safety seriously and gave buyers a simple way of comparing one model with another.
It has worked. Road deaths in Europe have fallen dramatically, and affordable family cars are packed with features that were once the preserve of expensive luxury models.
But with progress comes new problems: weighty SUVs and electric cars that are harder on other road users in a crash, intrusive driver aids that irritate rather than assist, and infotainment systems that bury simple controls in touchscreen menus.
To make sense of where car safety goes next, we talked to Euro NCAP’s president, Céline Vallaude [pictured below] to discuss the organisation's biggest achievements, the challenges it faces now and the challenges it will meet in the future.
To address this, Euro NCAP has launched its “Bring Back Buttons” campaign.
“To facilitate safe driving practices, Euro NCAP will introduce their first-ever assessment
protocol for General Vehicle Controls [which covers infotainment screens], as part of the 2026 Rating Scheme,” says Vallaude.
“Euro NCAP plans to evaluate the design of vehicle controls. This protocol will encourage safe operation of the vehicle, by evaluating both how controls are operated [e.g. by an input through a button, stalk, switch, or by a touch display], and their ease of use.
“A broad variety of controls are covered, including those used for media functions, changing the climate control, activating the fog lights, and triggering the hazard warning lights. Car manufacturers will thus be encouraged to implement good interaction design practices, to prevent distraction by design. A poor result in the new General Vehicle Controls assessment will not directly prevent a vehicle from achieving a five-star rating, but it will make it harder.”
If touchscreens annoy drivers, safety systems like lane assist and speed limiters can infuriate them. Picture the scene: you’re dutifully sticking to the speed limit, only for an overzealous warning system to chime relentlessly because it thinks you’re speeding. As you fumble to silence it, Lane Assist kicks in and tugs the wheel from your hands. For many drivers, switching these systems off has become as routine as fastening a seatbelt.
“Euro NCAP hears this feedback often and it’s valid,” says Vallaude.
In response, Euro NCAP is expanding its Assisted Driving Grading to ensure systems cooperate with drivers instead of fighting them. Manufacturers will also be urged to better explain to buyers how these technologies work.
“From 2026, Euro NCAP will begin assessing user acceptance more directly, with dedicated evaluations both on the test track and in real-world driving, such as for lane departure warnings and other crash avoidance technologies. We are also encouraging more intelligent systems: those that better interpret driver intentions and adapt to their behaviour.
“Early-generation systems often trigger unnecessary warnings even when the driver is attentive; our aim is to push for higher-performing solutions that understand both the environment and the human behind the wheel.”
Vallaude admits these systems add cost – but insists they are worth it.
“We want to democratise systems. To ensure widespread adoption, these systems must be made affordable and accessible. We've seen this happen before. Radar technology, once exclusive to premium models, saw a 50% price drop within just a few years of being included in the rating scheme, driving a mass uptake across the market.”
How can Euro NCAP measure the risks these heavier cars pose in real-world collisions?
“In 2020, Euro NCAP updated its frontal offset test, in which it evaluates how models perform when crashing head-on into another vehicle,” explains Vallaude.
“In this unique test, called the Mobile Progressive Deformable Barrier (MPDB), a moving barrier is used to simulate a head-on collision with a typical mid-sized (1400 kg) family car. The vehicle under test and the MPDB are both driven at 50 km/h (31 mph) and positioned with a 50% overlap. The introduction of the MPDB has allowed Euro NCAP to examine not only the vehicle's occupant protection but also its aggressiveness towards other cars on the road.
“The level of deceleration of the MPDB in the impact and the footprint of the test vehicle to the deformable barrier simulate how efficiently the vehicle can interact with another vehicle in a head-on collision. A vehicle that leads to extremely high trolley decelerations, or which causes very severe localised deformation, is said to exhibit poor ‘compatibility’. In the real world, such vehicles may not absorb their own energy as efficiently as they should and could pose a higher threat to other road users.”
“Euro NCAP will continue to evolve in line with the realities of modern mobility,” says Vallaude.
“First, we will support the safe adoption of assisted and automated driving technologies by rewarding robust, intuitive, and efficient driver support systems. At the same time, we will strengthen crash protection standards, not just for the average occupant, but with greater consideration for population diversity, including age and size differences. Finally, we will expand our focus on post-crash care, delivering better information and supporting technologies that enable faster, safer, and more effective emergency response.”
To understand Euro NCAP’s future role, it helps to look back at its past achievements. Vehicles today come with life-saving features like airbags, e-Call, and autonomous emergency braking as standard, when not long ago they were costly extras.
By its 20th anniversary in 2017, Euro NCAP estimated it had saved more than 78,000 lives. Its definition of safety has expanded from simple crashworthiness to child protection, pedestrian detection, post-crash rescue, and now driver assistance systems.
So what does Vallaude regard as the organisation’s single greatest achievement?
“The reality that now exists for safety: we've made safety visible, measurable, and expected,” she concludes.
“European roads are now the safest in the world, and that is no accident. This is the result of a dynamic, well-coordinated system supported by hard evidence and decades of progress. Over the last 20 years, we’ve seen an 80–90% reduction in road fatalities across Europe, a clear sign that our collective efforts are not only working, but they are also driving numbers down and saving lives.”
Russell Campbell talks to Euro NCAP’s president, Céline Vallaude, to discuss the challenges it faces now and in the future.
Since it first crashed a car into a barrier back in 1997, Euro NCAP has changed the way drivers think about safety – and the way carmakers build cars. By introducing a competitive star rating system, the organisation forced manufacturers to take safety seriously and gave buyers a simple way of comparing one model with another.
It has worked. Road deaths in Europe have fallen dramatically, and affordable family cars are packed with features that were once the preserve of expensive luxury models.
But with progress comes new problems: weighty SUVs and electric cars that are harder on other road users in a crash, intrusive driver aids that irritate rather than assist, and infotainment systems that bury simple controls in touchscreen menus.
To make sense of where car safety goes next, we talked to Euro NCAP’s president, Céline Vallaude [pictured below] to discuss the organisation's biggest achievements, the challenges it faces now and the challenges it will meet in the future.
First-ever assessment protocol
Few issues rile modern motorists more than touchscreens. Simple tasks – adjusting the heating, activating fog lights, or skipping a track – now demand eyes off the road and swipes through menus.To address this, Euro NCAP has launched its “Bring Back Buttons” campaign.
“To facilitate safe driving practices, Euro NCAP will introduce their first-ever assessment
protocol for General Vehicle Controls [which covers infotainment screens], as part of the 2026 Rating Scheme,” says Vallaude.
“Euro NCAP plans to evaluate the design of vehicle controls. This protocol will encourage safe operation of the vehicle, by evaluating both how controls are operated [e.g. by an input through a button, stalk, switch, or by a touch display], and their ease of use.
“A broad variety of controls are covered, including those used for media functions, changing the climate control, activating the fog lights, and triggering the hazard warning lights. Car manufacturers will thus be encouraged to implement good interaction design practices, to prevent distraction by design. A poor result in the new General Vehicle Controls assessment will not directly prevent a vehicle from achieving a five-star rating, but it will make it harder.”
Infuriating systems
It’s a subtle but important shift. For the first time, Euro NCAP is not just testing how cars behave in a crash – it is judging how likely they are to distract drivers into having one.If touchscreens annoy drivers, safety systems like lane assist and speed limiters can infuriate them. Picture the scene: you’re dutifully sticking to the speed limit, only for an overzealous warning system to chime relentlessly because it thinks you’re speeding. As you fumble to silence it, Lane Assist kicks in and tugs the wheel from your hands. For many drivers, switching these systems off has become as routine as fastening a seatbelt.
“Euro NCAP hears this feedback often and it’s valid,” says Vallaude.
In response, Euro NCAP is expanding its Assisted Driving Grading to ensure systems cooperate with drivers instead of fighting them. Manufacturers will also be urged to better explain to buyers how these technologies work.
“From 2026, Euro NCAP will begin assessing user acceptance more directly, with dedicated evaluations both on the test track and in real-world driving, such as for lane departure warnings and other crash avoidance technologies. We are also encouraging more intelligent systems: those that better interpret driver intentions and adapt to their behaviour.
“Early-generation systems often trigger unnecessary warnings even when the driver is attentive; our aim is to push for higher-performing solutions that understand both the environment and the human behind the wheel.”
Vallaude admits these systems add cost – but insists they are worth it.
“We want to democratise systems. To ensure widespread adoption, these systems must be made affordable and accessible. We've seen this happen before. Radar technology, once exclusive to premium models, saw a 50% price drop within just a few years of being included in the rating scheme, driving a mass uptake across the market.”
The Mobile Progressive Deformable Barrier
It’s not just technology that is changing, but the cars themselves. SUVs have become Europe’s best-sellers, making up a third of new car sales in the UK in 2024. Their popularity, combined with the rise of battery-powered EVs (and their associated extra weight), has made the average vehicle 100kg heavier in just a decade.How can Euro NCAP measure the risks these heavier cars pose in real-world collisions?
“In 2020, Euro NCAP updated its frontal offset test, in which it evaluates how models perform when crashing head-on into another vehicle,” explains Vallaude.
“In this unique test, called the Mobile Progressive Deformable Barrier (MPDB), a moving barrier is used to simulate a head-on collision with a typical mid-sized (1400 kg) family car. The vehicle under test and the MPDB are both driven at 50 km/h (31 mph) and positioned with a 50% overlap. The introduction of the MPDB has allowed Euro NCAP to examine not only the vehicle's occupant protection but also its aggressiveness towards other cars on the road.
“The level of deceleration of the MPDB in the impact and the footprint of the test vehicle to the deformable barrier simulate how efficiently the vehicle can interact with another vehicle in a head-on collision. A vehicle that leads to extremely high trolley decelerations, or which causes very severe localised deformation, is said to exhibit poor ‘compatibility’. In the real world, such vehicles may not absorb their own energy as efficiently as they should and could pose a higher threat to other road users.”
A dynamic, well-coordinated system
Cars are changing, and so are drivers. Older populations, greater diversity in body sizes, and the advent of assisted driving all pose new challenges. So where does Euro NCAP go next?“Euro NCAP will continue to evolve in line with the realities of modern mobility,” says Vallaude.
“First, we will support the safe adoption of assisted and automated driving technologies by rewarding robust, intuitive, and efficient driver support systems. At the same time, we will strengthen crash protection standards, not just for the average occupant, but with greater consideration for population diversity, including age and size differences. Finally, we will expand our focus on post-crash care, delivering better information and supporting technologies that enable faster, safer, and more effective emergency response.”
To understand Euro NCAP’s future role, it helps to look back at its past achievements. Vehicles today come with life-saving features like airbags, e-Call, and autonomous emergency braking as standard, when not long ago they were costly extras.
By its 20th anniversary in 2017, Euro NCAP estimated it had saved more than 78,000 lives. Its definition of safety has expanded from simple crashworthiness to child protection, pedestrian detection, post-crash rescue, and now driver assistance systems.
So what does Vallaude regard as the organisation’s single greatest achievement?
“The reality that now exists for safety: we've made safety visible, measurable, and expected,” she concludes.
“European roads are now the safest in the world, and that is no accident. This is the result of a dynamic, well-coordinated system supported by hard evidence and decades of progress. Over the last 20 years, we’ve seen an 80–90% reduction in road fatalities across Europe, a clear sign that our collective efforts are not only working, but they are also driving numbers down and saving lives.”
