Jaguar stunned by poor NCAP result for XF

Jaguar is licking its wounds after be awarded just four stars (out of five) for the XF in the most recent European NCAP (New Car Assessment Program) round of crash tests. The up-market sedan, on sale since 2008, was criticized for comparatively poor adult and child occupant protection in NCAP’s standard off-set barrier crash test, which is performed at a speed of 64km/h (39.8mph).
“Structures in the dashboard pose a risk of injury to occupants of different sizes and to those sat in different positions and protection for the knee/femur/pelvis body region was rated as marginal,” noted the official NCAP results.
At the same time NCAP officials criticized the XF’s head restraints, noting, “The seat and head restraint provided marginal protection against whiplash injuries in the event of a rear end collision.
Jaguar’s decision not to provide the XF with a front passenger airbag that can be turned off and what NCAP describes as insufficient warning labels for a rear ward facing child restraint was also behind its poor rating. “The front passenger airbag cannot be disabled to allow a rearward facing child restraint to be used in that seating position. The labels warning of the dangers of using a rearward facing restraint in that seating position were not sufficiently clear,” it said.
As a result of the poor result, Jaguar says it will act to improve the XF’s safety. ““We’re looking at the safety results and how we can incorporate changes into future models,” said a spokesman.
It is, however, unlikely that Jaguar will be able to incorporate fixes for the poor NCAP result until the launch of a facelifted XF, which is planned for early 2012.

See the full Jaguar XF NCAP crash test rating with accompanying pictures and video here:

http://www.euroncap.com/results/jaguar/xf/2010/410.aspx