What Van? Britain's biggest and best van buyers' guide

3rd Report

A couple of years ago, Euro NCAP, in conjunction with the Thatcham Research Centre, launched a test regime designed to determine the level of safety equipment fitted to vans.

This was not before time, because previously light commercial vehicles – with the exception of pick-up trucks – had not been subjected to the rigorous safety tests Euro NCAP administers to passenger cars.

The ratings assessed the performance and availability of emergency braking, speed limiter, and lane support systems, as well as seat belt reminder technology. 

The results were sobering, uncovering a dearth of advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) included with new vans compared to cars. For instance, only 12.8% of new vans came with autonomous (or active) emergency braking (AEB) as standard in 2019, compared with 62% of new cars.

Few manufacturers came out with much credit but Renault performed particularly poorly, both the Trafic and its big brother, the Master, suffered the ignominy of finishing in the ‘Not Recommended’ category.

Comparing the safety performance of Renault’s cars and vans, Thatcham director of research, Matthew Avery, said: “Its five star-rated Clio (car) has lots of standard fit ADAS technology that can save lives, but its Trafic van has practically nothing.”

So, has Renault got its act together and moved to redress this imbalance?

Standard equipment on the Trafic Passenger includes electronic stability control with hill start assist and Grip Xtend, which stops the van rolling back when pulling away uphill from a stationary position on an incline and enables it to cope with moderately slippery conditions without bother. It also gets ABS with electronic brakeforce distribution, tyre pressure monitoring, driver and front passenger airbags, driver attention alert, which is useful if you’ve spent too long at the wheel and are getting tired or inattentive, and a cruise control system with speed limiter.

Rear parking sensors are standard on Sport but not on Business trim, which is poor.

On top of its standard kit my Passenger Sport comes with the Advanced Driver Assist Pack 1 (£1,584) as an extra-cost option, which upgrades the cruise control to an adaptive system  – far more worthwhile from a safety perspective as it automatically applies the brakes in fast-moving traffic if the vehicle gets too close to the one in front and then accelerates to the selected speed once the road is clear again. The driver can choose from four set distances they want to keep between the vehicles via a steering wheel-mounted button. 

The pack also includes lane departure warning, which alerts the driver if they change lanes involuntarily, AEB, which warns the driver of moving or stationary hazards visually and audibly before applying the brakes if they don’t respond in time, blind spot warning, which alerts the driver to vehicles they cannot see either side via an LED light in the corresponding side mirror, automatic high beam, which automatically dips the headlights to prevent blinding drivers of approaching vehicles before returning to full beam when the road is clear and over speed prevention, which warns the driver if they exceed the speed limit of any given road.

My van also benefits from the £630 Parking Pack, which adds a reversing camera and 360º parking sensors, which are handy in helping to avoid damaging the vehicle’s bodywork during tight manoeuvres. All of this optional safety kit is worthwhile and could be life saving, but customers should not have to pay extra for it.

Report card: Safety = 3/5