THE new Ford Mustang which recently went on sale in the UK has been given a lowly two star safety rating in the latest round of Euro NCAP crash tests.

It is the first time since 2008 that the safety organisation has given such a low score to any of the top ten car brands on sale in Britain.

Thatcham Research, the independent automotive research centre and voice of Euro NCAP in the UK, now says the results mean that the Mustang is unsafe, particularly for children and back seat passengers.

Matthew Avery, director of research at Thatcham Research said: "This really bucks the trend. Car buyers are increasingly benefitting from improved safety functionality and features, and this applies equally to cars in the sports roadster category as to family cars.

"We have concerns about the Ford Mustang's crash protection of adults and children which also makes it unsuitable for having rear passengers. On top this, it does not have basic life-saving technology like autonomous emergency braking that is available even on the Ford Fiesta, and the recently launched Ford Edge.

"What really concerns me is that Ford has made a deliberate choice. The car has been designed to score well in less wide-ranging US consumer safety tests and only minor updates have been made to meet required European pedestrian safety regulations.

"This has resulted in poor adult and child protection scores and the high-tech radar collision warning system that is available to US consumers, not being available here in the UK. The Two Star Euro NCAP rating is the consequence."

Thatcham claims that in the frontal offset test, the airbags of both the driver and passenger inflated insufficiently to properly restrain the occupants.

In the full-width frontal test, a lack of rear seatbelt pre-tensioners and load-limiters meant that the rear passenger slid under the seatbelt, implying higher risk at abdominal injuries in real life accidents.

In the side impact crash, the head of a 10-year-old child dummy contacted the interior trim bottoming out the curtain airbag.

Ford says that a face-lifted Mustang will be available later this year with pre-collision assist and lane keep assist as standard.

Euro NCAP expects to test the safety of this updated model when it is available on the European market.

Thatcham Research is the independent voice of automotive safety and repair in Britain and advises motorists, insurers and vehicle manufacturers to help reduce accident frequency, severity and costs and to realise the vision of ‘safer cars, fewer crashes'.