Global Collaboration in Automotive Evaluation: Decoding C-NCAP - Cracking the "Safety Code" for Automotive Exports
China has surpassed Japan to become the world's largest auto exporter since 2023 and has maintained its leading position. Behind this historic leap lies a comprehensive improvement in the safety performance of Chinese automobiles and an overall leap in technological strength. Behind the favorable conditions for Chinese automobiles to go global lies the birth, growth and expansion of Chinese auto evaluation institutions.
The 2025 World NCAP Conference is about to kick off in Shanghai, China. As a member of the global NCAP family, C-NCAP has always been the "Chinese solution" for safeguarding travel safety. While exploring the advancement of automotive safety technology, C-NCAP has become an important enabler and bridge for domestic brands to enter the global market.
Key word ①
Build a communication bridge between Chinese enterprises and global assessment institutions
Since its establishment, NCAP has maintained an international perspective. The iterations of each regulation version not only draw on international experience but also fully consider China's national conditions. The 2006 version of C-NCAP drew on some test items of the European NCAP and the Japanese J-NCAP, and innovatively placed female dummies in the back row, making it more in line with the national conditions of family car travel in China. The 2012 version of C-NCAP has increased the crash speed to be in line with international standards and expanded active safety tests. The 2018 version fully aligns with the European NCAP, adds pedestrian protection and active safety sections, and introduces a new energy vehicle evaluation system. The 2024 version of C-NCAP, which is currently under implementation, has already reached the global leading level in many aspects. As C-NCAP aligns with international standards and partially surpasses them, the proportion of Chinese new cars that have received five stars from it in other NCAP systems such as the European NCAP has continued to rise.
Taking the exchange and collaboration of automotive evaluation technology as an opportunity, NCAP actively builds a two-way communication platform. On the one hand, it is active on the international stage to absorb global advanced experience; on the other hand, it promotes China's innovative practices in automotive safety evaluation to the world. In 2023, C-NCAP held its first NCAP technical seminar. The heads of global NCAP, Latin NCAP, Australian NCAP and other institutions gathered in Tianjin. Automakers reached a consensus on the development goals of China's automotive safety. In 2024, C-NCAP will introduce the European NCAP technology seminar to China for the first time, with over ten European NCAP experts having face-to-face exchanges with Chinese automakers. In 2025, C-NCAP will host the European NCAP Model Technology Observation (China Station), providing on-site inspection opportunities for global automotive technology engineers. These activities help Chinese auto enterprises accurately grasp the testing requirements of overseas institutions and crack
Key word ②
New breakthroughs have been made in the collaborative research and development of key assessment technologies
The international collaborative value of C-NCAP is not merely a "bridge", but also lies in promoting China's safety concepts and technologies to the world. In recent years, it has deepened its technical cooperation with international NCAP institutions, especially achieving fruitful results with European NCAP in the fields of virtual assessment and collision barriers. The two sides have established a joint research working group on MPDB collision barriers, and the cooperation results will be applied to the technical regulations of both sides, as well as the collaborative evaluation standards and testing methods. It has reduced the cost burden on enterprises in product development and testing when dealing with different systems.
Meanwhile, the C-NCAP crash test laboratory has been recognized and authorized by the European NCAP and the ASEAN NCAP. Chinese automakers can complete the assessment without going overseas, significantly reducing costs and improving efficiency. Facing the waves of intelligent connected and new energy technologies, C-NCAP is building an assessment system to address security challenges in complex scenarios. In the future, we will further deepen collaborative innovation with members of the global NCAP organization, promote the sharing of test technology resources, not only to safeguard Chinese automakers' "going global", but also to assist the steady and long-term development of China's automotive industry, allowing domestic automotive brands to shine more brightly on the global stage.