THE Rover 100 came out worst in a major British test on the safety of seven popular super-mini-sized cars in a crash situation.
The tests were carried out by the Transport Research Laboratory in Berkshire to supply consumers with information on the protection provided by vehicles in frontal and side-impact collisions and to pedestrians struck by a car's front.
The Ford Fiesta and Volkswagen Polo came out on top with three stars out of a possible four, but the Rover 100, formerly the Metro, received one star. The Vauxhall Corsa, Nissan Micra, Fiat Punto and Renault Clio scored only two stars.
Mr David Harpur, the managing director of Rover Ireland Ltd, said he had not seen details of the Berkshire tests, but stressed that the Rover 100 met all the current safety regulations.
Asked about its sales performance in the Republic, he said 150 were sold last year. It would not be among the top five cars selling in the small-car range. In the UK it was a top seller bin that range.
Mr Charlie Weston, of the Consumers Association of Ireland, welcomed the report and said consumers had a right to know which were the safest cars. Hem said there were shortcomings in all of the cars tested, even those which received a good rating and the public needed to be aware of the situation.
He said the EU parliament had adopted new safety standards which introduced new crash tests on frontal and side impact and represented a huge leap forward in car safety. Unfortunately, he added, the new tests would not come into effect until October 2003.
The association was pleased new standards were being introduced and hoped the manufacturers would introduce these themselves as soon as possible instead of waiting for the final date for implementation.
He said the association planned to publish full details of the tests in its Consumer Choice magazine in April.
Mr Cyril McHugh of the Society of the Irish Motor Industry said from the industry's point of view, it was important to point out that all cars were meeting EU safety standards. The latest tests were above and beyond that.
"The danger of a survey like this is that people get the impression that cars are unsafe. That is not the case," he said.
Any car manufactured within the EU had to meet its standards and the survey should be looked on in that light, Mr McHugh added.
The programme was initiated by the Department of Transport in the UK and the tests were carried out in co-operation with EuroNCAP (a consortium set up by the Department of Transport).
BEUC, the European Consumers Organisation, and International Research and Testing, said the result of the crash tests showed that many car manufacturers were still dragging their feet where safety is concerned". They hoped the tests would provide an incentive to manufacturers to improve their designs more quickly.
Mr Max Mosley, president of the Federation Internationale del l'Automobile said: "Car buyers today are given a wealth of information about car performance and fuel economy but very little on safety.
"Now, for the first time, the EuroNCAP will give the public a reliable guide to the crash-worthiness of cars," he added.
The RAC's chief executive, Mr Neil Johnson, said: "This is a historic day for road safety. As a result of the EuroNCAP, motorists will for the first time be able to make an informed choice of car on grounds of safety rather than just colour, style and performance.
Mr David Lang, the AA's chief-engineer, said the tests will "force" improvement to vehicle safety.
"Independent crash tests have been saving lives in America and Australia for many years and it is high time that British motorists had access to similar information about the cars they buy," he added.