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Euro NCAP is urging industry to seize the opportunity to act ahead of regulation. Regulatory updates can take many years to develop and implement, while proven safety solutions are already available today. Voluntary action offers a unique opportunity to accelerate the introduction of safer solutions, demonstrate industry leadership and help prevent hundreds of deaths on Europe’s roads each year.
Revisiting trailer rear under-run test results: a double failure in road safety
The testing programme was supported by the UK’s National Highways and Department for Transport, alongside international partners including Germany’s ADAC, Sweden’s Trafikverket and the US Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) exposed critical vulnerabilities that contribute to an estimated 400 fatal trailer rear under-run collisions across Europe every year.
Rear under-run collisions occur when a passenger car impacts the back of a heavy trailer and slides underneath it. In these scenarios, the trailer bed acts like a guillotine, directly impacting the passenger compartment and bypassing the car’s engineered crumple zones and restraint systems.
The testing campaign evaluated real-world physical impacts alongside crash avoidance technologies. It revealed:
Trailer Rear Under-run Protection Failure
When crash-tested at 56 km/h (35 mph), European trailer rear guards built to the current mandatory UN standard failed structurally. The guards buckled, allowing even five-star rated passenger vehicles to slide underneath and suffer catastrophic damage.
ADAS detection gaps
While vehicles equipped with early-generation Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) successfully detected standard laboratory targets every time, detection rates dropped significantly when facing real commercial vehicles, such as skeletal or curtainside trailers. While next-generation ADAS hardware and software will steadily improve detection capabilities as new vehicle fleets roll out, Euro NCAP notes that with the average age of passenger cars continuing to rise, it will take more than 15 years for crash-avoidance technology to significantly mitigate this issue.
Why US voluntary underrun protection offers the blueprint for a solution
During comparative testing against trailers with rear underrun barriers built to the voluntary US IIHS TOUGHGUARD benchmark, the guard held firm under identical impact conditions. By resisting the energy of the impact, the US-spec bar allowed the passenger car’s front crumple zones and airbags to deploy as intended, protecting occupants.
Modifying European trailer specifications to match the protection structures as exemplified by IIHS offers a blueprint for a solution for European industry to make a significant difference to road safety. Just as new ADAS features are phased into consumer cars, upgraded underrun protection must be rapidly phased into commercial truck and trailer fleets. Regulatory updates take time – time that road users do not have.
“We applaud the next step conversations in the UNECE working groups. But legislation should set the floor, not the ceiling. We know why these fatalities happen, and thanks to the IIHS leading voluntary solution already adopted in the US, we know how to fix them. We are calling on European trailer builders and heavy transport fleets to step up now. There is no reason to wait for legal mandates when simple, voluntary changes to trailer rear guard designs can start saving lives on our roads immediately. This is a real opportunity for industry to prevent deaths on European roads and meet Vision Zero targets,” stated Matthew Avery, Director of Strategic Development Euro NCAP