The UK's lorry trailer safety record has been left wanting by an independent assessment from Euro NCAP. According to new crash test analysis, current rear underrun protection (RUP) devices on trailers are failing to safeguard vehicle occupants in the event of a rear-end collision, potentially contributing to up to 40 deaths annually in the UK and 400 across Europe.
The organisation's testing involved crashing a Tesla Model 3 into stationary trailers at 35mph. The results showed that crash test dummies suffered 'almost certainly fatal' injuries when hitting trailers adhering to the current UK and EU standard (UN regulation R58.03), in stark contrast to tests using trailers with the voluntary 'Toughguard' standard, where injuries were deemed survivable.
Euro NCAP's director of strategic development, Matthew Avery, expressed deep concern at the disparities in safety provisions between passenger vehicles and trailers. He highlighted that decades of advancements in car safety are undermined by inadequate trailer RUP designs and warned of an 'unacceptably high' fatality rate associated with this type of accident.
The findings also pointed to a separate issue: older Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) in cars may struggle to detect certain types of trailers, including 'skeletal' or impact protection designs. This dual challenge involves both passive safety features on trailers and active safety systems in vehicles.
Euro NCAP is now urging legislators in the UK and EU to update RUP designs, adopting more robust standards akin to those used in the US. The organisation also wants trailer manufacturers to introduce voluntary safety upgrades for existing trailers already on the roads, demonstrating that a safer solution is feasible and widely implemented elsewhere.