BMW iX3 Gets 5-Star Euro NCAP Safety Score: First Under New Tougher Test Process

The BMW iX3 luxury electric compact SUV has just been tested by the European New Car Assessment Programme (Euro NCAP) and has achieved a five-star score. The independent testing agency also awarded five stars to the Zeekr 7GT, Chinese-made electric performance estate, making these the first two cars to be evaluated under its new, more stringent 2026 test process.

The all-electric iX3, which is expected to launch in India in early 2027, will be the first production model built on the company’s Neue Klasse platform and manufacturing process. It has a dual-motor, all-wheel-drive powertrain and 800V battery architecture. The company says it has designed the battery cells into the car’s chassis for better protection and structural integrity.

Euro NCAP awarded it a score of 73 percent in the Safe Driving category. The car can detect occupant presence and stature as well as seatbelt usage, but cannot identify incorrect seatbelt routing or people sitting out of position, which would interfere with airbag effectiveness. Driver impairment and distraction monitoring is implemented. While essential drivers’ controls are accessible and safe to use, infotainment controls might cause some distraction. The new test process also considers adaptive cruise control performance and steering assistance, which can help safely share the road with other users as well as infrastructure.

The Crash Avoidance score was 83 percent. In this category, Euro NCAP evaluates emergency braking systems, pedestrian and cyclist detection, lane departure avoidance, and junction manoeuvring, and even dooring protection.

The iX3 was scored 86 percent for Crash Protection, which involves frontal offset and full-width impact, side mobile barrier and pole impact, and vulnerable road user protection in case of impact. Head protection was Good for the driver and passenger in all tests, with chest and lower body safety rated Good or Adequate in most cases.

Finally, it achieved 95 percent in the Post Crash Safety category which checks for the availability of rescue information for first responders, post-crash intervention features, and ease of human extrication.

Test engineers drove the BMW iX3 approximately 2,000km through Italy, France, Germany and Austria to test speed limit identification and ADAS. The Euro NCAP report noted that the electric door handles have mechanical fallbacks but still remained operable after crash tests. There’s also a centre airbag to mitigate the effects of occupants colliding with each other. On the downside, short-term driver distraction was not detected consistently.