New Euro NCAP safety testing procedures highlight the difference between Chinese and European models
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Car safety experts Euro NCAP recently updated its testing procedures to favour cars with physical buttons for key driving controls, and Chinese cars are marked down on this front more frequently than European models.
Proper buttons are becoming rare in new cars as manufacturers switch to touchscreen-based controls. It’s cheaper to route everything through a screen, and it helps with the minimalist interior aesthetic many manufacturers are going for these days, but car safety organisation Euro NCAP says that proper buttons are safer.
This is why it’s updated its safety tests to include ease of use for the major controls. Points are awarded for having physical buttons for things like the indicators, lights, wipers, washers and mirror adjustment.
Cars are given a percentage score for “essential driving tasks” such as lights and wipers, and “comfort and infotainment” for things like heated seats and the radio. These percentages are combined, then they go towards the car’s overall score where they affect the number of stars it gets.
The new Audi Q7 scored 90% overall in this category – 100% essential driving tasks and 80% for comfort and infotainment. By comparison, the new Xpeng G9 – a Chinese people carrier – scored just 20% for essential driving controls and 80% for comfort and infotainment.
Whereas the Audi has buttons to adjust the mirrors and control the lights, these functions are operated through the touchscreen in the Xpeng. It’s not just the Xpeng either, because Euro NCAP says there are “clear differences between European manufacturers and Chinese carmakers” in this respect.
Of the cars tested in 2026 so far, the BMW iX3 and Audi Q7 scored 100% for key driving controls, and the Cupra Raval scored 80%. Chinese cars like the Xpeng G9, Zeekr 7GT and the Aion UT scored 20%, and the Leapmotor B05 scored 0%. The Geely EX2 is the only exception, with that Chinese EV also scoring 80%.
Despite this, all these cars were still awarded the full five-star safety rating by pulling their scores up in other areas. The Xpeng performed especially well in the crash avoidance and post-crash safety categories, while the Leapmotor B05 scored an impressive 92% for crash protection.
So what does all this mean for you? Well a five-star Euro NCAP rating doesn’t necessarily mean the car has physical buttons for key controls, so if that’s important to you then look up the model you’re thinking of buying on the Euro NCAP website. You can then see the scores in individual categories, and you’re looking for strong results under “Safe Driving”.
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