Many automotive enthusiasts are giving Land Rover a tough time for making the new Defender a little TOO refined and modern. Some feel that Land Rover should have taken a simpler pick-up truck chassis and ‘souped’ it up to luxury levels. But that’s exactly what Mercedes-Benz did with their X-Class, and that car lasted all of 2 years in production. So perhaps the only way to keep the Defender alive was to thoroughly modernise it. And the results show they did a good job of that, at least in terms of safety.
The Euro NCAP assessment of the 2020 Defender shows the car is lightyears ahead of its predecessor in terms of safety. It scored 5 stars, with its weakest aspect being ‘Vulnerable Road Users’ – where it scored just 71%. Adult and Child occupant safety was rated at 85%.
Here’s something that might surprise you – there are no records of the previous Land Rover Defender’s Euro NCAP rating. This was a car from before my time, but it seems like Land Rover never needed to submit it for a safety rating at all. They did give it little updates to improve safety (like airbags), but by 2015/16 they just couldn’t sell the car in Europe anymore.
The new Defender not only comes with a rigid unibody chassis, but the following active safety features:
- Emergency Braking – Designed to detect if a potential frontal collision with another vehicle may occur and display a forward alert to warn the driver to brake. If the driver doesn’t respond, the vehicle will deploy emergency braking to reduce the severity of the possible impact.
- Blind Spot Assist† – A flashing icon in the appropriate wing mirror helps alert the driver to obstacles in, or quickly approaching, your blind spot.
- 3D Surround Camera† – Assists the driver during low-speed manoeuvres using advanced camera technology to provide a 3D view of Defender in its environment on the central Pivi Pro display.
- Clear Exit Monitor† – Helps warn of a possible threat when preparing to open any door from the inside using sensors in the bumper to monitor approaching traffic.
- Adaptive Cruise Control† – Maintains a safe distance from the vehicle in front. If the vehicle ahead stops, the technology will bring the vehicle to a smooth halt.
- Driver Condition Monitor – Designed to sense driver fatigue by monitoring steering, brake and accelerator inputs to provide alerts when tiredness is detected.
- Lane Keep Assist – Helps to detect unintentional lane drift and applies corrective counter-steering to maintain lane position.
- Rear Collision Monitor† – If a vehicle approaching from behind is not slowing down, the vehicle will attempt to alert the approaching driver by automatically flashing the hazard lights.
- Rear Traffic Monitor† – Designed to warn of vehicles, pedestrians or other hazards approaching from either side – particularly useful when reversing out of a parking bay.
- Traffic Sign Recognition and Adaptive Speed Limiter – Informs the driver of the current speed limit and adjusts the vehicle speed when entering new speed limit zones automatically.
- Wade Sensing – Ultrasonic sensors in the door mirrors provide real-time information about the water depth when wading.
- eCall+: System is designed to send an automatic message to an emergency call centre in case of a crash or collision, which includes additional location information and the number of seat belts in use.
- Multi Collision Brake: Automatically applies the brakes to prevent or mitigate a subsequent impact when the vehicle has been involved in a collision of sufficient severity.
