Five stars for the new Passat: top marks for best-selling model in Euro NCAP safety assessment

The new Passat has been awarded the top rating of five stars in the renowned Euro NCAP (European New Car Assessment Programme) consumer protection programme. This makes the vehicle one of the best-rated mid-sized models of 2024 in the independent European testing body’s overall ranking. After 2010 and 2014, the completely newly developed Passat also receives the highest award from Euro NCAP.

Now in its the ninth generation, the success story of Volkswagen’s best-selling Passat continues. The Passat, which is available exclusively as an estate model, impressed the experts at Euro NCAP with a host of important safety innovations.

The safety assessment carried out by Euro NCAP, an independent European institute for consumer protection, covers four categories: the Passat achieved its best result in the Adult Occupant Protection category with a rating of 93 per cent. It also achieved very good results in the other three categories: Child Occupant Protection (87 per cent), Vulnerable Road Users (83 per cent) and Safety Assist (80 per cent).

Many assist systems fitted as standard. Even at the entry level, the Passat includes numerous assist systems at no extra cost. These include Side Assist (lane change system), Lane Assist (lane keeping system), ACC stop & go (Adaptive Cruise Control), oncoming vehicle braking when turning function, Park Distance Control (acoustic and visual warning signals if there are obstacles in the front or rear areas), Rear View (rear view camera system) and Dynamic Road Sign Display using the front camera, as well as LED headlights and tail light clusters.

Safety first, both inside and out. Particularly worth highlighting is Autonomous Emergency Braking Front Assist with Pedestrian and Cyclist Monitoring, which increases the level of protection for vulnerable road users in the event of an impending collision.

Within the system limits, the exit warning system can prevent an occupant from opening one of the doors when another road user (bicycle, motorcycle, etc.) is approaching from behind and additionally issues acoustic and visual warnings.

Another important technology in the Passat is Car2X, which allows the vehicle to exchange information about local hazards with other vehicles and the traffic infrastructure.

The Passat is both business class and an all-round family car. When it comes to occupant protection, great importance is attached to the safety of children. In both the frontal and side impact tests, the Passat was found to provide very good protection for all critical body areas of the two child dummies and was awarded the maximum score.

Since 2023, the Euro NCAP test criteria have become even stricter: the new requirements include, for example, the ability to detect any children left in the car – this criterion is also fulfilled by the new Passat generation.

Bestseller, especially as an estate. In its more than 50-year history, the Passat has been sold over 34 million times. In Europe, it is the estate version in particular that has been extremely popular over the years, and Volkswagen now offers the car only as an estate model.
And this enjoys great success: in Germany, the Passat Variant topped the rankings in the mid-sized class in 2023, with 45,494 new registrations.

The detailed Euro NCAP test is available at www.euroncap.com.