Safety crash testing, why do people trust China Insurance Research Institute more?

Text | Teng Sanmao

Produced by Che Tuteng, no reproduction without permission

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From NHTSA (USA) Since the Highway Safety Administration first adopted NCAP (New Car Assessment Program), a new car assessment procedure system, in 1979, various countries/regions around the world have successively carried out NCAP assessments.

We are more familiar with Europe’s “Euro-NCAP”, Japan’s “J-NCAP”, and the United States also has the IIHS (Insurance Institute for Highway Safety).

In 2006, China Automotive Technology Research Center Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "China Automotive Research Center") officially established China's new car evaluation procedure, which is C-NCAP.

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Let’s briefly talk about China Automotive Technology Research Center Co., Ltd. It is a state-owned enterprise headquartered in Tianjin. It has 9 functional departments, 23 departments and wholly-owned subsidiaries, and 7 holding companies, with total assets of 11.3 billion yuan and net assets of 8.65 billion yuan. The business covers 12 major fields including industry services, standard business, policy research, testing and testing, engineering technology research and development, certification business, big data, engineering design and general contracting, consulting business, new energy, industrialization and strategic emerging business.

It has to be admitted that China Automotive Research Institute C-NCAP played an important role in the early days and promoted the continuous improvement of the safety of domestically produced cars.

At that time, it was difficult for domestically produced cars to meet the NCAP tests of the United States, Japan and Europe, and crash test scores of 1 star or even 0 stars abounded. It was also at that moment that domestic automobile manufacturers and users realized the importance of automobile safety, and automobile OEMs began to scientifically improve the safety performance of their products.

(The crash test results of the first batch of 6 C-NCAP vehicles in 2006: 5 four-stars and 1 three-star)

You know, for a long time, Chinese people have I think the harder the car, the safer it is, and the less deformed it is after a collision, it is a good car. For example, in November 2000, the Beijing Zhonghua Bullet Car conducted a crash test at Tsinghua University. After the impact, the vehicle's front windshield was not damaged. People were surprised and hailed this collision as "the first crash in the world." Although there was nothing wrong with the car, the monkey in the car was... (A dummy was not used at the time, but a live monkey was used as the test subject).

But to this day, the evaluation results of China Automotive Research and Development Corporation’s C-NCAP have been questioned by the outside world more than once. Because most of its published collision scores are five-star reviews, it is nicknamed the "five-star wholesale department" by netizens.

(The first batch of 16 models in C-NCAP in 2015: 1 five-star, 14 five-star, and 1 three-star)

Especially the 2016 China Baoyan Automotive Technology Research Institute Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "China Insurance Research") launched the C-IASI new car evaluation procedure, the voices questioning C-NCAP have become increasingly louder.

(Passat C-IASI head-on overlap collision process)

(Passat C-IASI C-NCAP front-over collision process)

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Officially due to a "crisis of trust", China Automotive Research and Development Corporation C-NCAP announced that it would update collision standards and rules and solicit opinions from the public.

After research, the author found that compared with the 2018 version, the 2021 version of China Automotive Research and Development Corporation’s C-NCAP Management Rules has the following main additions and revisions -

1. Occupant protection part.

The biggest change in the 2021 version of the rules is in the area of ??small-area overlapping collisions: the frontal 50-degree overlapping moving progressively deformable barrier collision test and evaluation method is used instead of the frontal 40-degree overlapping deformable barrier collision test and evaluation method.

That is, in accordance with the C-NCAP test procedure, the test vehicle and the MPDB trolley perform a frontal offset collision at a speed of 50km/h. The overlap width of the collision between the test vehicle and the MPDB trolley should be within the range of 50 vehicle widths. Inside.

This is also the most important change in the 2021 version of the rules.

In addition, for new energy vehicles, the new rules add a side pillar impact test and evaluation method, replacing the side impact test and evaluation of deformable movable barriers; adding a side impact test with deformable movable barriers. The number of carrying dummies; the whiplash test and evaluation method for the second row outer seats has been added; the second row child occupant protection evaluation method and the child occupant protection static evaluation method have been added; the technical requirements for side curtain air curtain bonus points have been modified; the addition The technical requirements for bonus points for accident emergency call systems have been clarified; the seat belt reminder device has been modified from a bonus point item to a penalty point item; and the electrical safety evaluation method in the occupant protection test has been modified.

2. Pedestrian protection.

The 2021 version of the rules has modified the pedestrian protection test and evaluation methods, using the Advanced Pedestrian Legform Impactor (aPLI) instead of the traditional FLEX-PLI and TRL upper leg types to conduct pedestrian leg impact protection tests Evaluation; the pedestrian protection headform test area has been expanded.

3. Active safety part.

The new rules add vehicle automatic emergency braking system (AEB) test items; add lane keeping assist system (LKA) test and evaluation methods; add lane departure warning system (LDW) and blind spot monitoring System (BSD) and Speed ??Assist System (SAS) review projects and technical requirements; vehicle lighting performance testing and evaluation methods have been added.

4. The scoring system has been modified, and the active safety weight has been increased from 15 to 25.

China Automotive Research Institute stated that the new regulations will introduce passive safety test scenarios that are more in line with traffic characteristics, and further highlight the score weight of active safety, so as to continue to lead the progress of China's automobile safety technology and continue to lead the automobile civilized society. The goal positioning of the harmonious security concept.

However, the people who eat melon don’t seem to buy it. Some netizens believe that this move may be to rid the Five Star Wholesale Department of its infamy. Another netizen commented, "It's a complete joke!"

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China Automotive Research Institute C-NCAP and China Insurance Research Institute C-IASI, who should you trust?

I believe everyone has a different answer to this question.

First of all, C-NCAP is affiliated to China Automotive Research Institute, and C-IASI is affiliated to China Insurance Research Institute. The former is a central enterprise and the most authoritative automobile research and testing institution in China; the latter is composed of 8 insurance companies and a An insurance risk assessment agency funded by a company specializing in equipment leasing and software development. Looking at it this way, it seems that China Automotive Research and Development Corporation’s C-NCAP is more authoritative.

Secondly, according to public information, China Automotive Research Institute C-NCAP is mainly to provide consumers with systematic and objective vehicle information and promote enterprises to develop and produce according to higher safety standards, thereby effectively reducing road traffic accidents. injuries and losses.

China Insurance Research Institute C-IASI is more pragmatic. Its definition of C-IASI is: "from the possession and use of the car, using the car as the subject matter of insurance to conduct a systematic and in-depth analysis of its safety risks." Experimental study", which is similar to the US IIHS.

This can be simply understood as China Automotive Research Institute is more inclined to the research and development and safety assessment of car companies, while China Insurance Research Institute is more inclined to consumer use.

Thirdly, judging from the acquisition of test target vehicles, there are two sources of collision vehicles for China Automotive Research and Development C-NCAP, one is purchased from the market, and the other is submitted for inspection by the manufacturer, and the standards for collision models are different. , both high and low configuration models are available. The inspection sent by the manufacturer is also the most criticized by netizens, "Can the customized crash test vehicle sent by the car company for inspection be the same as the one I bought at the 4S store?"

The difference is that China Insurance Research Institute C- IASI crash test vehicles are all purchased independently on the market, and they are all low-end models.

In contrast, the acquisition form of China Insurance Research Institute's C-IASI test car is more recognized by users, which also makes people more inclined to believe in the latter's crash test results.

Finally, from the perspective of the strictness of the test standards, the biggest difference between China Automotive Research Institute C-NCAP and China Insurance Research Institute C-IASI lies in the frontal overlap collision of the target test vehicle.

The current collision project of China Automotive Research and Development Corporation C-NCAP is "frontal 40-degree overlapping deformable barrier collision test (64km/h)". That is to say, in the frontal offset collision test, 40% of the frontal car body has the opportunity to contact the barrier in front. At this time, the force on the front of the car body will be transmitted to the energy-absorbing box, and then the force will be transmitted to the front longitudinal beam. The longitudinal beams play an effective energy-absorbing role, greatly reducing the impact damage to the cockpit caused by barriers.

In this draft of the "C-NCAP Management Rules (2021 Edition)", the collision contact area is further increased to 50, and the contact area is increased, thereby focusing on the strength of the front of the car and away from the overall structure of the body. The intensity fades away.

China Insurance Research Institute C-IASI uses "frontal 25-degree offset non-deformable rigid wall collision (64km/h)". At the same collision speed, in a frontal 25° offset collision, the cockpit will receive a greater impact, and the safety requirements for the vehicle will be more stringent.

This is also the reason why the tires will instantly invade the passenger compartment under the extrusion of the rigid barrier, causing the intrusion of the cowl to increase and the part of the sill beam to bend significantly.

It is worth mentioning that the frontal 25-degree offset collision is also one of the most important test indicators in the US IIHS.

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So, should we only rely on "China Insurance Research Institute C-IASI"?

Actually, that’s not entirely true. Car safety test scores are only an important reference when buying a car. And even if a model has excellent test results, it does not mean that its safety is perfect. After all, the test results are only produced in a fixed environment and a fixed angle, but the conditions faced in actual accidents are obviously much more complicated. So safe driving is the top priority.

Data show that from 1995 to 2002, with the increase in car ownership, the number of traffic accidents in our country increased year by year, reaching 773,000 in 2002. Since then, it has begun to decline again, which is related to more complete road construction, stricter traffic regulations, and people's increased safety awareness. In recent years, my country's annual traffic accidents have been controlled at around 200,000.

However, in terms of traffic accident fatality rates, the data are not optimistic. From 2000 to 2003, it was about 15, but now it is around 30.

Although vehicles are becoming safer and the number of accidents is decreasing, the severity of accidents is increasing instead of decreasing. This cannot but arouse everyone's attention.

The reason is that vehicle speeds generally increase after road conditions improve, and once an accident occurs at high speeds, the danger will be more serious. In addition, the safety awareness of some drivers and passengers is still weak. Many people do not want to wear a simple seat belt, and even buy seat belt buckles to prevent vehicle warnings.

According to the sampling survey statistics of the China Automotive Research Institute’s China Traffic Accident In-depth Study (CIDAS) working group, in 542 passenger car frontal collision accidents, seat belts can reduce the probability of death of the drivers and passengers in the car. reduced by 71; in 487 passenger car side collision accidents, seat belts can reduce the probability of death of drivers and passengers in the car by 67; in 114 passenger car rollover accidents, seat belts can reduce the probability of death of drivers and passengers in the car 78.

Never entrust your safety completely to the vehicle. It is often more important to drive carefully and safely yourself.