“Rotten apple” car brands blamed for poor lane keeping systems

Automotive safety agency Euro NCAP has fired a broadside at a “few rotten apples” car brands for active driver assist systems (ADAS) that is says are potentially dangerous.

The agency has accused them of tuning their systems to comply with the Euro NCAP emergency response protocols rather than working safely in the real world.

It has committed to real-world instrumented testing of ADAS such as lane departure warning from 2024 and has further upgrades planned for 2025, with a big step due in 2026.

Its Australian partner ANCAP has also committed to commencing real-world ADAS testing in 2024. Currently, both bodies test ADAS in controlled conditions such as a runway.

“We need to have a new way of evaluating these systems – not just looking at critical scenarios and how they intervene, but we also have to take the car out on the road,” Euro NCAP secretary-general Michiel van Ratingen told Australian automotive media this week.

“There are a few rotten apples in the fleet that spoil everything for everyone and you can easily get those out with a two-hour drive.

“If you take them out in the city, expose them to traffic, fellow road users, you can see these systems react in a normal way or too aggressively.”

Van Ratingen and other Euro NCAP executives were in Australia this week to celebrate ANCAP’s 30th anniversary and to sign a new memorandum of understanding between the two bodies.

“There are different elements within the ADAS family, some of them are very effective, other ones… have issues in how the vehicle manufacturer has put the systems on to the car,” van Ratingen said.

“Lane departure warning is probably one of the more annoying systems in the market that people don’t really like and switch off… it can also be dangerous.”

A move by ANCAP to address poorly tuned lane keeping and other distractions being introduced to new cars was first reported by carsales in September.

Back then we highlighted the errant lane keeping behaviour of the GWM Tank 300 as evidence of the issue.

The Chery Omoda 5 is another new arrival in Australia to be criticised in widespread media reviews for its poor ADAS tuning.

Both cars have been awarded the maximum five ANCAP stars. The Omoda 5 also has five Euro NCAP stars.

Euro NCAP and ANCAP have aligned protocols and with light truck, heavy truck and full-size pick-ups all part of a planned testing expansion, more emphasis on ADAS rather than crash testing is forecast.

Van Ratingen said it had never been Euro NCAP’s intention for its protocols to become the default tuning set-up for ADAS.

“When we started to develop these tests our understanding was that vehicle manufacturers would not bring these systems in that would be upsetting their customers,” he said.

“So we focussed basically on evaluating whether in critical scenarios where the systems should actually intervene whether they would actually do a good job.

“So that’s what the test actually in Euro NCAP is and also ANCAP, so let’s imagine some crash about to happen and how these systems can effectively interfere.

“So we replicate that on the track and that’s the basis on which we give the five stars.

“As it turned out many vehicle manufacturers have used that basically as a blueprint for the system, which was never the intention for us. They said basically ‘OK if I meet the test that’s fine, that’s enough’.”

Van Ratingen said the issues was being exacerbated by shorter and shorter development times for new vehicles, which he estimated were down to as little as two years, making it harder to test systems in the real world.

“We are kind of upset that manufacturers are answering questions from you guys saying Euro NCAP is forcing them,” van Ratingen added.

“We never forced them to do that. We assumed they would have the ethical courage to implement a good system and if they couldn’t do that they wouldn’t go for it.

“But they went for it just to get the points… for marketing. So now it’s back to our action to actually adapt the test procedure and to go and include real-world testing.

“We feel we are doing the work of the OEM. I am of the opinion this is not an NCAP job, it is the job of the manufacturer to make sure these systems are not annoying and don’t have false positives.”

The 2024, real-world tests will have a much higher focus on driver intent. From 2026, both Euro NCAP and ANCAP will move to a new crash assessment system that will assess the four distinct phases of a potential crash: safe driving, collision avoidance, collision protection and post-collision safety.

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