Global NCAP fires missive to Renault boss about misleading advertising in Latin America

Global NCAP, the global automobile safety watchdog, has written to Carlos Ghosn, chairman and CEO, Renault, to express its concern about a serious misrepresentation of crash test results appearing in Renault’s advertising in Latin America.

The letter from David Ward, secretary general, Global NCAP, states that a current advertisement for the Megane III in Uruguay claims that the model has a five-star rating in the European New Car Assessment Programme (Euro NCAP).

“However, ratings from Euro NCAP should not be used in Latin America where for the last five years the Latin New Car Assessment Programme (Latin NCAP) has been carrying out independent safety ratings. In the absence of a crash test by Latin NCAP, there is no certainty that the Megane III sold in Latin America will in fact earn five stars. The advert in Uruguay is, therefore, highly misleading to car buyers.

“Global NCAP, therefore, requests that Renault take the following action to redress this serious misuse of independent consumer safety information: 1. Withdraw the advert immediately from use in Latin America 2. Issue an apology to Euro NCAP for misusing their results and labelling system 3. Offer to test the Latin American specification of the Renault Megane III using Latin NCAP’s test protocol so that an accurate rating for the region can be made available.

"Misuse of NCAP ratings not only confuses the public it also is unfair to your competitors, particularly those companies that have earned five-star ratings in Latin NCAP. Your corporate website is proud to highlight the number of five star results the company has obtained from Euro NCAP but entirely ignores Latin NCAP (see: https://www.renault.co.uk/discover-renault/safety/euro-ncap.html).

"Perhaps this is because Renault has yet to achieve a single five-star result for any of its models sold in Latin America. So rather than publishing misleading adverts, would it not be better for Renault to try to achieve its own first genuine five-star rating in Latin NCAP? That would be a clear signal that Renault is truly aiming to have a high level commitment to global road safety.”