MG3 suffers serious seat failure in Euro NCAP crash test

The MG3 suffered a critical safety failure during Euro NCAP’s latest round of crash testing.

During the frontal offset crash test, Euro NCAP’s engineers found that the driver’s seat latching mechanism failed.

Euro NCAP said such a seat adjuster failure has not been seen before in its testing, which began in 1997.

The failure of the latching mechanism caused the driver’s seat to twist partway through the impact. This movement led to elevated forces on the dummy’s right leg, with protection for that body region assessed as ‘poor’.

According to Euro NCAP, the seat failure also meant that MG could not demonstrate how well the car would protect the knees and femurs of occupants of different sizes or those seated in varying positions.

Euro NCAP said it shared its findings with MG, which initially argued that the failure was due to “improper latching of the seat before the test”.

However, as is standard procedure, Euro NCAP said the seat’s latching had been checked before testing was conducted.

“MG has subsequently committed to improving the design of the seat latch mechanism to ensure it remains robust in the event of an impact,” Euro NCAP said in its findings.

“It is troubling to find a car on sale in 2025 with a fundamental weakness in its seat latching mechanism, an essential part of the car’s occupant restraint system,” noted Aled Williams, programme director at Euro NCAP.

“This fault has been reported to the relevant Type-Approval authorities so consideration can be given as to whether a vehicle recall should be issued.”

MG, once a British marque, is now wholly owned by China’s SAIC Motor Corporation.