Tesla Model Y receives highest overall safety score in new European assessment

The Tesla Model Y has received a 5-star safety rating from Euro NCAP, the European New Car Assessment Programme, according to a Tesla blog post. In addition, the Model Y also received the highest overall score among any vehicle tested under Euro NCAP's newest test protocol. 

The new protocol is the most stringent protocol the NCAP has ever had in place, testing a car's ability to protect adults, children and vulnerable road users and safety assistance features.  

SEE: Elon Musk says that the self-driving Tesla could be ready by the end of the year 

The Model Y led the Euro NCAP overall score category with a 92% score. The Lexus NX came in second place scoring an 89%.

“Congratulations to Tesla for a truly outstanding, record-breaking Model Y rating. Tesla have shown that nothing but the best is good enough for them, and we hope to see them continue to aspire to that goal in the future,” said Michiel van Ratingen, Euro NCAP's Secretary General, in an Euro NCAP post. 

In the adult occupant protection category, the Model Y came in with a 97%, the highest of any vehicle tested in this protocol. This category does a series of frontal, side and rear whiplash tests in addition to other safety tests such as rescue, extrication and post-crash safety, according to the post. 

The new Model Y vehicles, which feature Tesla's latest manufacturing techniques, were used for this assessment. The latest safety features include rear underbody casting, far-side airbag, multi-collision braking and a collision avoidance driver monitoring system. 

The Model Y also came in first in the safety assist category with a leading score of 98%. Tesla attributes this score to the Tesla Vision camera vision and neural net processing system. This system now comes installed in all Tesla vehicles delivered in North America and Europe. 

SEE: Tesla is punching above its weight in this major auto market 

Today, the Model Y also received a 5-star rating from the Australasian New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP), where it also broke records. 

“The Tesla Model Y impressed across all four pillars of ANCAP's assessment, achieving an all-time record score of 98% in the Safety Assist pillar, and the highest Adult Occupant Protection score to date against the latest 2020-2022 rating criteria (97%),” said ANCAP in a post.