The latest Euro NCAP crash safety test results are out and it's big celebration time for Nissan and Mercedes-Benz, both of whom scored the maximum five stars - and slightly more muted party time for Citroen, which got a four-star mark for the C4 Cactus.
That's actually not too disappointing a mark for Citroen - NCAP has made its test much more stringent lately and getting a five-star score is that much harder. The Cactus would have walked a maximum score under the old system, so you can be pretty reassured it's a safe vehicle.
Clearly also very safe are the Mercedes V-Class and Nissan X-Trail. Perhaps the X-Trail's score was a predictable one; after all, the Renault-Nissan Alliance isn't in the habit of building unsafe clunkers, but it's still some achievement, especially the good marks in the pedestrian impact test for such a big 4x4. The Mercedes' marks are also hugely impressive. Don't forget that the V-Class is basically a van underneath and yet it's capable of providing the sort of impact protection to passengers both big and little that you'd expect from an S-Class.
Anything else?
NCAP was particularly impressed by the V-Class' collision prevention assistant, not least because such things are so uncommon in the Family Vans segment that NCAP doesn't normally include them in the test.