Most secure cars and vans just announced
Vehicle manufacturers were celebrating nearly a decade of achievement in vehicle security, as the winners of the ninth and final, British Insurance Vehicle Security Awards (BIVSA) were announced at Thatcham on Thursday.
The awards were established in 2004 to recognise those manufacturers who have produced the most secure cars, and to raise consumer awareness of what is best in vehicle security. In 2009 the scope of the awards was extended to include vans. They are based on the New Vehicle Security Ratings (NVSR) scheme. From a security perspective, practically all the new cars and vans on sale in Ireland are similar to those sold in the UK.
Volkswagen were presented with the overall best car manufacturer award for the 3rd year running with the Beetle, Phaeton and Sharan amongst its category winners, whilst Nissan scooped the LCV equivalent with the Nissan Primastar winning outright in the Heavy Van category.
Since its launch in 2004, BIVSA has come to be recognised as the pinnacle for vehicle manufacturers in terms of recognition of their work in making vehicles more secure and reducing vehicle crime. Supported by the UK Government, The Department for Transport and other key stakeholders, the awards represent an opportunity for manufacturers to demonstrate to their customers the efforts they are making in minimising the disruption and anxiety caused by becoming a victim of crime.
In the nine years of the BIVSA awards Thatcham have presented over 150 awards to nearly 20 different manufacturers and thanks to their efforts, alongside law enforcement, government and the insurance industry, vehicle crime has fallen by approximately one-third in that period.
Meanwhile, according to Thatcham’s vehicle security team, the best continue to get better – “We work closely with the police to establish the current techniques that thieves are using and the British insurance industry’s vehicle security criteria against which vehicles are assessed is continually updated to reflect this knowledge. In this way we have continued to raise the bar for manufacturers and they in turn have responded with ever more secure vehicles,” said Peter Shaw, Chief Executive at Thatcham told the Auto Trade Journal today.
Additional security features that manufacturers have introduced over the period covered by BIVSA include the standardisation of double locking, improvements to vehicle identification and anti-counterfeiting measures, drive-away locking, lockable fuel filler caps, the use of laminated glazing on high end models, improvements to alarm systems and immobilisers and the introduction of keyless entry and keyless start vehicles.
However amongst the celebrations, Thatcham concede that the fight against vehicle crime is not yet won and recent security issues serve as a reminder that whilst these awards in their current format are coming to an end the fight against the thieves is not. “In late 2011 we identified a new theft trend involving criminals using sophisticated technology to access a vehicle’s On Board Diagnostics port and extract the information required to programme a new key. This new issue demonstrates that despite the achievements of manufacturers, whilst thieves continue to look for new ways to steal vehicles there will be no room for complacency in the fight against vehicle crime.” added Shaw.
Whilst this will be the last Security Awards in its current format, going forward Thatcham and their insurer stakeholders announced their intention to extend the coverage of these awards to recognise achievements in safety as well as security and as such in 2013, the awards will become the British Insurance Vehicle Safety and Security Awards (BIVSSA).
Winners and Close Runners-up (Cars)
City Car / Supermini
1st Audi A1
2nd Volkswagen Polo SEL,GTI and R-Line
3rd Seat Ibiza (except E)
Small Family Car
1st Volkswagen Beetle (2012 MY)
2nd Volvo C30
3rd Audi A3
Family Car
1st Citroen C5 Exclusive
2nd Volkswagen Passat – Passat CC
3rd Vauxhall Insignia
Compact Executive Car
1st Audi A4
2nd Audi A5 Sportback
3rd Infiniti G Series
4th Volvo S60/V60
Compact MPV
1st Citroen C4 Picasso Exclusive
2nd Volkswagen Golf Plus (except S)
3rd Volkswagen Touran
4th Volkswagen Caddy Maxi
Large MPV
1st Volkswagen Sharan
2nd Seat Alhambra
3rd Volkswagen Caravelle
4th Chevrolet Orlando
Open-top Car
1st Audi A5 Cabriolet
2nd Audi R8 Spyder
3rd Porsche Boxster (MY2012)
4th Porsche 911 Carrera Cabriolet (MY2012)
Performance Car (including Coupe, Hot Hatch and Super)
1st Audi A8 W12 Quattro
2nd Mercedes-Benz CL Coupe
3rd Audi A5 Coupe
4th Audi S4
5th Audi R8 Coupe
Crossover
1st Audi Q3
2nd Volkswagen Tiguan
3rd Mini Countryman
Compact 4×4
1st Audi Q5
2nd Land Rover Range Rover Evoque
3rd BMW X3
4th Infiniti EX
Large 4×4
1st Toyota Land Cruiser V8
2nd Audi Q7
3rd Porsche Cayenne
Executive Car
1st Citroen C6
2nd Audi A6 – A7
3rd Infiniti M Series
4th Volvo S80
5th Mercedes-Benz CLS-Class (2012 MY)
Luxury Car
1st Volkswagen Phaeton
2nd Audi A8
3rd Mercedes-Benz S-Class
Green Car
1st Vauxhall Ampera
2nd Toyota Prius T3 and T Spirit with Solar Panel
3rd Seat Ibiza 1.2 CR TDI 75PS Stop-Start Ecomotive
4th Toyota Prius T4 and T Spirit
5th Lexus CT CT200h
International Vehicle Security Award
1st Volvo Cars
Manufacturer
1st Volkswagen UK
2nd Audi UK
3rd Volvo Cars UK Ltd
4th Mazda Motors UK Ltd
Winners and Close Runners-up (Vans)
Light Van
1st Volkswagen Caddy
2nd Peugeot 207 Van
3rd Peugeot Partner
4th Citroen Berlingo
5th Nissan NV200
Heavy Van
1st Nissan Primastar
2nd Renault Trafic (Sport)
3rd Ford Transit (Sport)(2012 MY)
4th Vauxhall Vivaro (Sportive)
Pick-up (including light tipper)
1st Volkswagen Amarok
2nd Ford Ranger (2012 MY)
3rd Mitsubishi L200 (except 4work and 4life)
4th Nissan Cabstar
4×4 Van
1st Land Rover Discovery 4
2nd Nissan Pathfinder
3rd Mitsubishi Outlander
4th Mitsubishi ASX
Green Van
1st Ford Fiesta Panel Van-1.6 Duratorq TDCi + DPF (ECOnetic)
2nd Vauxhall Corsavan 1.3CDTi 16v (95ps) ecoFLEX Start/Stop
3rd Ford Fiesta Panel Van-1.4 Duratorq TDCi
Manufacturer
1st Nissan Motor (GB) Ltd
2nd Vauxhall Motors UK
3rd Peugeot Motor Company PLC
[models / variants in italics satisfy the awards selection criteria across all variants in the model range]