Tesla Model S tops Euro NCAP safety tests

Just months after the Tesla Model Y earned the highest score on one European safety index in history, another car in the automaker’s lineup has set another new benchmark. This time, the luxury Model S sedan has burst through the European New Car Assessment Program’s (Euro NCAP’s) safety score ceiling, surpassing even the Model Y’s previous record. 

Tesla’s Model S received the highest safety score of any vehicle tested in Euro NCAP’s newest, most rigorous testing procedure, as reported by The Driven. The Model S was awarded a five-star rating for safety in the Euro NCAP test, scoring highly in the four key categories of testing: adult occupant protection, child occupant protection, vulnerable road user safety and safety assist features.

The safety assist category tested various features from Tesla’s Autopilot and Full Self-Driving systems, such as lane assistance, occupant status monitoring, forward-collision warnings and much more. The others, as they are titled, were dedicated to the level of protection Tesla’s systems offered for adult passengers, child passengers and for pedestrians around the vehicle.

Tesla’s Euro NCAP safety results by category

The Tesla Model S scored a 94 percent in adult occupant protection, a 91 percent in child occupant protection, an 85 percent in vulnerable road user safety and a 98 percent in safety assist features. Comparatively, the Model Y scored a 97 percent in adult occupant protection an 87 percent in child occupant protection, an 82 percent in vulnerable road user safety and a 98 percent in safety assist features.

Above: Euro NCAP Crash and Safety Tests of a 2022 Tesla Model S. Video: Euro NCAP / YouTube

Tesla also noted the success of the Model S on its blog, pointing to a number of safety features that helped the automaker earn the award, each of which comes standard with all Model S units. These include collision avoidance driver monitoring, front-structure casting, automatic airbag suppression, far-side airbags, multi-collision braking and the unique Model S steering yoke.

Tesla makes incremental upgrades to its cars over time, and the company says its active safety features are meant to help its cars become the “safest cars in the world” (via its Vehicle Safety Report page). In addition, the company releases vehicle safety report data on the page for each quarter — though they haven’t yet added data from 2022.

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