Rated: The world's top five safest cars

RICHARD BLACKBURN
January 29, 2010

The Volkswagen Golf has been rated the safest car by Europe’s independent crash test body.

The Volkswagen Golf has come out on top in a list of the five safest cars of 2009, released by European independent crash test body, Euro NCAP.

The multi award-winning hatchback - and Drive's 2009 Car of the Year - finished ahead of two hybrid cars, the Honda Insight and Toyota Prius.

The ranking system takes into account a range of different safety parameters gathered from a number of different crash tests, including side-, front- and rear-impact, as well as a test that simulates a car slamming sideways into a pole.

Cars are rated for adult occupant protection, child occupant protection, pedestrian protection and active safety technology such as stability control, which can prevent a car from skidding out of control.

The surprise packet of the results was the Hyundai i20 small car (on sale in a few months), which ranked 4th ahead of a trio of cars tied for fifth; the Toyota Avensis sedan (not sold in Australia), the Volvo XC60 and the Opel/Vauxhall Astra, which was dropped from Holden's local line-up in favour of the Korean-sourced Cruze last year.

The Golf was ranked number one for adult protection with 97 per cent, while the Avensis topped the child protection rating and the Insight offered the best protection for pedestrians.

But Euro NCAP didn't just hand out bouquets. It lists the Suzuki Alto and the Toyota Urban Cruiser (not sold here) as the worst performers for 2009, with three-star ratings. The local version of the Alto scored four stars from the Australasian chapter of NCAP.

Euro NCAP crash-tested 33 different models last year, usually conducting four crash tests on each vehicle.

The organisation has raised the bar for its top five-star rating in 2010, increasing the minimum scores for each rating category.