The new Fiat Croma has just been awarded the maximum five-star rating in the European New Car Assessment Programme (Euro NCAP) crash safety tests.

This important judgement was recently also awarded to the new Grande Punto, thus underlining the attention that Fiat Auto pays to every aspect of the protection of drivers and passengers.

On the new Fiat Croma, this attention has produced excellent results. To achieve them, Fiat Auto’s designers took into consideration every possible type of accident: head-on and side-on collisions, overturning, rear collisions and fire. They also analysed the different speeds at which impacts occur, the different types of obstacle, and the protection of occupants with very different physical features.

This added up to some 18,000 hours of calculations, 120 crash tests, 100 crash simulations on HyGe sleds, 200 tests on components and subsystems, 10 new types of performance specifications and test procedures, and eight co-design suppliers of specific structures for passive safety, two of which were involved exclusively in the planning and development of safety systems.

Detailed analysis of all these parameters produced an array of technical solutions which make the new Fiat Croma one of the safest cars on the market. Many sophisticated systems that are standard equipment on the Fiat Croma have made significant contributions; such as two dual stage frontal airbags, two front sidebags, two window bags and a kneebag for the driver, (rear sidebags are optional). Front seatbelts with pretensioners and load limiters are also standard, as is the anti-whiplash system on the front head restraints.

The new Croma also guarantees constant, predictable road behaviour, even correcting mistakes by the driver and helping the driver to negotiate critical situations without difficulty. In fact, in addition to a powerful, widely acclaimed braking system, the Fiat Croma can also boast the most sophisticated electronic systems to monitor the car's dynamic behaviour. They include ABS anti-lock braking with EBD (Electronic Brakeforce Distribution), and above all ESP, (Electronic Stability Programme): a system that cuts in when the car is close to the limit of adhesion, and when its stability is at risk, helping the driver to retain control.

Depending on the version, the ESP system on the new Fiat Croma also includes a number of additional systems: ASR (Anti Slip Regulation) which prevents the driven wheels from slipping when surface grip is poor; MSR (Motor Schleppmoment Regelung) which acts if the driver changes abruptly to a lower gear, restoring torque to the engine so as to prevent excessive stress on the driven wheels; HBA (Hydraulic Brake Assistance), an electronic-hydraulic system that is activated during emergency braking; and finally, Hill Holder, that simplifies hill starts.

New Croma has been designed and built to achieve the highest levels of safety, as its Euro NCAP rating now confirms. Along with its reliability, quality and technological innovation in the field of diesel engines, this attention to detail has made a major contribution to the model's success: since its launch, new Croma has attracted over 22,000 orders.

In respect of engine options, customers' choices have confirmed the strength of the range offered on the new Fiat Croma. In particular, where the MultiJet turbodiesel engine is concerned, 60% of orders have been for the 150 bhp 1.9 MultiJet 16v, and 10% for the powerful 200 bhp 2.4 MultiJet.

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