Thatcham opens second UK site to test safety of new brands' cars

While Newbury continues to carry out Euro NCAP crash testing, data analysis, vehicle repair research and skills training (more than 3500 technicians pass through its school each year), Gamston will help close the gap and improve understanding between car makers and technology developers, regulators and insurers.

"Thatcham's focus has rightly been on improving crash safety, but now we want to look at other areas of the risk spectrum," said Townsend. "For example, it's becoming apparent that some car makers and their developers haven't considered the end user when designing and installing new assistance technologies. If users can't operate or are frustrated by them, acceptance falls off a cliff and they switch them off, undermining safety gains elsewhere. Societal acceptance of new technology is key."

In this regard, Gamston aims to become an international assurance centre, promoting more user-friendly technology that gives drivers confidence to use it.

"The speed at which technology is developing,” said Townsend, “is such that we have to do more real-world testing and faster too, because what we don't want is insurers and regulators to stifle it because they don't understand it."

Another area that Gamston plans to focus on is vehicle sustainability.

"For the past 10 years, we've been helping to develop Euro NCAP test protocols," said Townsend. "However, the problem with improving crash safety is that you forget about anything that doesn't injure people. I'm thinking of scenarios such as low-speed crashes that can cause cars to be written off. 

“So as well as its level of safety, we need to focus on the lifecycle of a car. For example, repairers need to know how safe an EV's battery is after an impact so they don't just write it off. It's about saving cars now, because we've done a good job of saving people."