Short Version:
Two years after giving the Brilliance BS6 a one-star rating, ADAC strikes again. This time, the BS4 is crash tested, and it was given 3 star frontal impact, 4 star side impact, and 3 star child safety ratings. Independent organizations who co-funded the test, namely ANWB (Dutch), TCS (Swiss) and ÖAMTC (Austrian) unanimously gave the BS4 a 3 star overall rating. ADAC however, claims the BS 4 deserves a ZERO star overall rating, because of missing ESC in the "new, more stringent Euro NCAP guidelines." Looking at these guidelines however, no rationale can be found to bring a 3, almost 4 star rating to 0. Calling shenanigans, defamation, and agendas.
Background:
Only 2 years ago, Chinese automaker Brilliance's attempt to export its BS 6 sedan to Europe was effectively ruined by ADAC. The German autoclub performed a crash test, supposedly under Euro NCAP guidelines and gave the BS 6 one out of five possible stars. The video ended up on Youtube, and if you are reading this you probably know the rest of the story. A huge disaster for Brilliance; who nevertheless upgraded the car in less than 3 months and sent it to Spain's Idiada for a retest. The new car was given 3 out of 5 stars, but the damage was already done. Fast forwarding to March 2009; ADAC performs a new test on Brilliance's new sedan, the BS 4 (aka Zunjie). The result?
 3-stars frontal impact; 4-stars side impact; 3-star child safety
As per Euro NCAP procedures, a 40% offset frontal impact test at 64 km/h (40 mph) and a 50 km/h (35 mph) side impact tests were performed. As it can be clearly seen in the image above and the videos, the crumple zone is as it should be, and the passenger compartment appears to be intact. The doors are also still in good shape, and could be easily opened by a possible rescue crew. The main problems on this test were the bad positioning of the steering wheel and the high risk of injury of the driver's foot due to a weak floorboard and "sharp" pedals. ADAC gave the BS4 9 out of 16 points for the frontal impact; equivalent to 3 stars.
On the side impact test, the side airbags and a strong B-pillar helped the BS 4 achieve a 4 star rating, earning 13 out of 18 points. Because of seat belt's sizes, the impossibility to turn off the passenger airbag, and the "inadequate" warnings regarding transporting backwards baby seats on the passenger seat, the BS4 was given 3 stars for child safety (35 points out of 49).
 Overall rating: 'Zero stars'
In spite of this, the car was given zero out of five possible stars, because of "new, more stringent guidelines". According to ADAC, the BS4 is "significantly safer than the BS 6," and "better, but not enough." A very interesting paragraph reads:
"By the old standards, the BS 6 tested in 2007 earned one single star. The BS4 would have achieved at least three stars by those standards. But the development of passenger safety technology in the past 2 years has advanced. And it is against these higher standards that the BS 4 has now to be measured, and the rating is: Zero Stars. Because of the lack of ESP, the BS4 loses its theoretical three stars again and remains starless in the crash test site. And rightly so: a car without ESP is not acceptable by today's standards."
Basically, what can be understood is that the lack of ESP (or ESC - Electronic Stability Control) obliterates the 3, almost 4 stars rating and brings it to exactly zero stars. At least that's what ADAC claims.
ESP in 2009 Euro NCAP
First, neither this test nor the BS6 test was officially ordered by Euro NCAP. Yet ADAC claims the score complies with the new rating scheme. However, according to Euro NCAP, ESC (or ESP) testing is still in its infancy. Hence, to encourage automakers to increase fitment, 3 points are awarded for a car with standard fit ESC. Mandatory ESC fitment is not expected until 2011, or possibly even later. The lack of ESC may decrease the final star rating, but it is not in any way reason to zero the rating. A good example is the Citroen C3 Picasso: evaluated according to 2009 standards, this car scored 4 stars adult safety (29 pts), 3 stars child safety (37 pts), and 2 star pedestrian safety (16 pts). The C3 Picasso obtained 0 points for ESC since it's not standard fit. Yet, the final star ranking was 4 stars! (4+3+2 = 4?). How?
Controversy
This test was co-funded by Dutch autoclub ANWB, Swiss TCS and Austrian ÖAMTC (links below). The three organizations used the same data as ADAC and unanimously rated the BS4 3 stars:
ÖAMTC - Crashtest: Brilliance BS4
TCS - Crashtest Brilliance BS4 ANWB - Chinese Brilliance BS4 haalt drie sterren in crashtest In an initial statement, Focus-online has summed up this matter as follows: "The zero-star rating leads clueless buyers to believe that the BS4 is a totally unsafe car — which it is quite definitely not. Its crash test results may not be brilliant, but they are sound."
Questions
* Why did ADAC shock the public with the Zero-Star rating?
* This car was released 1 year ago. Why did ADAC choose to test it right after the new standards took effect? Couldn't they test it BEFORE Feb 2009?
* Why does ADAC insist in testing cars with insignificant sales volume?
* Is there an agenda to keep Chinese cars out of the Euro market?
* Should errors or bias be found; How could ADAC compensate Brilliance?
The last one is especially important. Such a dismal rating incurs incalculable damage to a company's reputation. This news of this new 'disaster' was quickly spread by the media and the blogosphere. Some enraged, ignorant and even racist comments were posted by Internet users all around. Should errors or bias be found; even if ADAC posts a retraction (unlikely to happen), how are consumers going to respond?
Links:
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UPDATE: Details on this crash test can no longer be found on ADAC's site. But their press release is still there:
http://media.adac.de/news/news/article/brilliance-bs4-im-adac-crashtest.html