Physical buttons beat touchscreens in Euro NCAP’s new safety rules

If you’ve ever jabbed at a touchscreen just to turn on the heater, or been shouted at by an over-eager lane-keeping system, Euro NCAP has heard you. The safety body has announced a major overhaul of the way it rates new cars, and for the first time, it’s putting usability and driver sanity front and centre.

The new 2026 protocols are the biggest shake-up since 2009. Euro NCAP is shifting to a four-stage safety model – Safe Driving, Crash Avoidance, Crash Protection, and Post-Crash Safety – but the standout change for everyday drivers is simple: cars that are easier to use will score higher.

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But what is Euro NCAP?

You might not have heard of Euro NCAP, but it’s worth checking if a model has one of their ratings when you’re shopping for your next car. Euro NCAP (European New Car Assessment Programme) puts new cars to the test to see how safe they really are: not just in crashes, but in everyday driving too.

They give each car a star rating based on how well it protects passengers, pedestrians, and cyclists, how smart its driver-assistance tech is, and how it handles emergencies after a crash.

Basically, Euro NCAP is like a trusted safety guide for car buyers. Their ratings show which cars are easier and safer to drive, which ones really protect you and your loved ones, and which ones are better at helping prevent accidents in the first place.

Physical buttons are officially back in style

Consumer feedback has been loud and clear: touchscreen-everything isn’t always safer. Essential controls such as heating, wipers, volume, and demisting are often buried in digital menus, forcing drivers to take their eyes off the road.

That’s where Euro NCAP steps in…

Under the new rules, cars will be scored on how intuitive their controls are, and having physical buttons for commonly used functions such as climate control will earn manufacturers extra points. It’s a strong nudge for carmakers to stop replacing everything with a swipe or a tap.

Driver tech must be helpful, not bossy

Lane-keeping systems and other driver aids have become infamous for buzzing, beeping, or tugging at the steering wheel at exactly the wrong moments. Recognising this frustration, Euro NCAP will now assess how smoothly and politely these systems behave in real-world driving, not just on a test track.

Ultimately, if a car feels calmer, more predictable, and less intrusive, it’ll do better in the ratings.

Euro NCAP also wants driver safety systems to be smarter about what the driver is actually doing. Cars will be rewarded for advanced driver-monitoring, the kind that tracks eye and head movement to detect distraction or drowsiness, and for linking that information to how sensitive their assistance systems are.

Speed-limit detection will be checked on real roads, not just test tracks, making systems more trustworthy for everyday use.

Crash protection expands for all shapes and ages

When accidents do happen, the new tests will cover a wider range of body types, including children, elderly occupants, and people who are shorter or taller than average. This should lead to more adaptive airbags, seatbelts, and crumple zones designed for real families, not just crash-test dummies.

Smarter safety for EV drivers

Electric vehicles also get new post-crash rules. EVs will need to keep their exterior door handles working after a collision and properly isolate their high-voltage batteries. Cars will also have to automatically report how many people were inside, even unbelted, to help emergency services respond faster.

What does all this mean for you?

Euro NCAP ratings have long been the go-to measure of car safety, and these new rules make that even truer. From 2026 onward, a high Euro NCAP score won’t just tell you a car protects you in a crash – it’ll tell you it’s less likely to annoy you, distract you, or make you dig through three menus just to change the temperature.

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