Road deaths could be cut by 40%, if ...

18 December 2001: Renault says road deaths could be reduced by 40% if all car buyers chose the Laguna II or other cars with a similar crash test performance.

Except that the Laguna II is at the moment the only car to have achieved the maximum 5-star rating in the Euro NCAP crash test programme. So there's really no choice, yet.

The company notes that in the UK, road deaths have dropped by 30% since 1980, but suggests that if all cars had achieved the 5-star crash rating, a further 40% could be achieved. That would be 700 lives saved a year in the UK.

The Laguna's performance of 33.1 points out of a notionally possible 34 points maximum (97%) in the Euro NCAP programme was achieved eight months ago, but has not been matched by any other car so far.

A combination of up to eight airbags, including 'smart' twin-level inflation front airbags which can tell the severity of the impact, seat-belt pretensioners (two on the driver's belt for the first time) and seat-belt load limiters, collapsible brake pedals and anti-submarining seats to keep the occupants in place, together with ABS, Brake Assist and electronic tyre pressure monitoring all add up to making the Laguna the safest car on the road.

The company is also very happ that its Mégane, which is currently a six year old car, was confirmed as safest in the small family car class in the latest tests, with a score of 30.3 points or 89%. It beat even recent new cars in its class.