The Most Popular Car Crash Tests Around the World in 2025

Explore 2025's leading car crash tests worldwide: Euro NCAP, IIHS, NHTSA, ANCAP and more. Learn their updated protocols and focus on active safety.

There was a time when crash tests were just shocking clips on the evening news. Today, they are the global language of car safety, understood by engineers, journalists, and everyday drivers. The dummies still hit the barriers, but behind the scenes lie hundreds of pages of protocols, unified rules, and data-rich simulations with sensors and high-speed cameras.

Global coordination sets the tone
At the center stands Global NCAP, publishing 2025–2029 protocol packages that form the backbone of worldwide safety evaluation: adult and child protection, pedestrian safety, and driver assistance performance. Regional NCAPs build on this framework, creating a shared baseline for comparison.

Europe: moving to a full-picture assessment
Euro NCAP’s new Overall Assessment v1.0 merges scores from four key areas: Safe Driving, Crash Avoidance, Crash Protection, and Post-crash Safety. It signals a shift toward a holistic view where a car is judged not just for how it protects occupants in a crash, but also for how well it helps prevent one and mitigates outcomes afterward.

United States: winning Top Safety Pick gets tougher
In 2025, IIHS tightened its tests. The new Moderate Overlap 2.0 refines offset frontal crash conditions, while Side Impact 2.0 uses a heavier, faster barrier to better replicate real-world crashes. The V2V Front Crash Prevention 2.0 protocol adds scenarios with motorcycles and trailers, testing how effectively vehicles can avoid a head-on crash. Meanwhile, NHTSA continues its 5-Star Safety Ratings, has listed MY2025 vehicles for testing, and is preparing to add pedestrian and ADAS evaluations starting MY2026.

Regional highlights
Australia’s ANCAP now factors Level 1–2 automation into its star ratings. Latin NCAP has shared its updated protocols and upcoming changes, keeping its four-pillar system. India’s Bharat NCAP updated its notifications section in 2025 and reminds consumers that stars from different NCAPs should not be directly compared. Japan’s NASVA/JNCAP released an updated MPDB procedure earlier this year, ensuring up-to-date metrics for its offset frontal crash test.

Trends: from surviving crashes to avoiding them
The story of 2025 is clear: active safety leads the way. Programs are no longer satisfied with crash survival—they test whether a vehicle can detect a motorcyclist at night, brake automatically, or steer away from danger. This is why the latest IIHS and Euro NCAP protocols feel like a preview of a future where technology, not just metal strength, earns the stars.

Making sense of the stars
For buyers, the advice is simple: go to the source. Euro NCAP, IIHS, and NHTSA publish their latest protocols, ratings, and plans openly. Reading those reveals what each star truly means—and why two cars with the same rating might offer very different levels of real-world protection.