► Euro NCAP now evaluates interior controls
► Clearly favours physical buttons over touchscreens
► But is criticism of Chinese carmakers fair?

We don’t always agree with Euro NCAP, but its stance against the over-reliance on touchscreens for basic driving controls is a message we can fully get behind. Now the crash safety body has gone on record to say there are ‘clear differences’ between the approach of European carmakers and those from China when it comes to ‘the use of buttons for basic functions.’ But what does that actually mean?

While new Chinese cars are now routinely achieving the maximum five-star safety rating overall, Euro NCAP says all but one of the Chinese models it’s tested since the start of 2026 have scored poorly when it comes to the ease of use of interior controls. This appears to be directly related to the dominant use of touchscreens in Chinese vehicles.

In contrast, Euro NCAP has praised carmakers from other regions for listening to feedback – from customers as well as itself – and reintroducing more buttons and other physical controls into their latest generation of vehicles.

What exactly has Euro NCAP been testing?

The most recent round of testing has focused on the new Audi Q7, the Xpeng X9 and the Kia EV2. All three received the full five-star safety rating, but only the Audi and Kia were praised for taking ‘a more common-sense approach’ to their interior controls.

The judgement of this falls under new ‘Safe Driving’ protocols introduced as part of an update to the Euro NCAP testing regime introduced in early 2026.

Accordingly, Euro NCAP now says ‘the key driving controls – indicators, windscreen wipers and washer, hazard warning lights, horn and eCall emergency button – should be operated by a direct physical input rather than hidden within a menu on a touchscreen.’

Control of these ‘essential driving tasks’ is rated separately to ‘comfort and infotainment’, but the ease of interfacing with the latter is also subject to scrutiny here.

Euro NCAP has been especially keen to point out the difference in approach between the Q7 and the X9, describing both as ‘large, premium cars aimed at families’ and saying ‘the Q7 SUV shows how to make driving controls simple, intuitive and ultimately safe, whereas the X9 MPV relies too heavily on touchscreen technology.’

As such, the Q7 was rated 90 per cent overall for ‘driving controls’, scoring 100 per cent for the essentials, 80 per cent for comfort and infotainment. The X9 got only 20 per cent for its ‘primary driving controls’, and though it did match the Audi when it came to comfort and infotainment – scoring an identical 80 per cent – its overall driving controls rating is 50 per cent.

The Kia EV2 – which is South Korean, not European or Chinese – did even better than the Q7 under these criteria, receiving 100 per cent for both aspects.

That can’t be all Euro NCAP is basing its argument on?

Euro NCAP’s wider point is that of all the cars tested since the start of 2026, only one Chinese car has come out favourably in terms of the use of interior buttons, whereas European brands have consistently scored highly in the driving controls assessment.

The examples cited are the BMW iX3 (100 per cent) and the Cupra Raval (80 per cent), with the Geely E2 matching the Raval’s score as the Chinese exception. Other Chinese cars tested were the Zeekr 7GT and Aion UT, which both scored 20 per cent, and the Leapmotor B05, which scored 0 per cent.

Euro NCAP is holding up the Audi Q7 as an example of European carmakers responding to feedback – pointing out that the previous generation of Volkswagen Group cars had become too touchscreen centric, resulting in customer dissatisfaction as well as criticism from the safety body.

Active driver assistance systems should now be less… annoying

Putting the strength of Euro NCAP’s Europe versus China argument to one side for a moment, it is also worth noting the evolved evaluation of active driver aids. The Q7 and the EV2 were both lauded for having lane keeping assistance that takes driver monitoring into account.

Essentially, Euro NCAP now says that if the driver is alert, systems such as lane keeping aids should intervene less abruptly, reducing the amount they distract – and annoy – the driver. The Audi and the Kia both demonstrated more intense interventions when the driver’s attention was found to be wandering.

A 2000km (1200-mile) on-road test is now carried out to check every vehicle’s ADAS in real-world European circumstances. The Xpeng X9 was also criticised in this analysis, with a speed assistance system that failed to meet Euro NCAP’s ‘effectiveness benchmarks’.

Are Chinese brands being unfairly criticised by Euro NCAP?

As already stated, none of the above prevented the X9 from being award five stars for safety overall.

In fact, in terms of fundamental crash safety, the Xpeng’s 91 per cent score was higher than the Audi (88 per cent) and the Kia (86 per cent). The X9 also scored better for crash avoidance, achieving an 82 per cent rating to the Q7’s 77 percent and the EV2’s 66 per cent.

The Audi Q7 has become the first vehicle to achieve a 100 per cent score in post-crash safety, but the X9’s 91 per cent and the EV2’s 89 per cent don’t feel that far behind.

Therefore, the particular point Euro NCAP is making is entirely to do with interior controls. We suppose that as cars generally become safer – which is the pattern over time – the emphasis on how distracting they are for the driver does become more important. As this may lead to an increased likelihood of crashing in the first place.

However, Euro NCAP has not presented any data in this instance to support that.

Anything else of note from the latest testing results?

There are also new ratings for the BYD Shark and Mazda 2 Hybrid as well, these have been largely derived from other data and recorded as 2025 test results; the evaluation of physical controls discussed above was introduced as part of the 2026 updates.

The Shark’s five-star rating mostly relies on Australian NCAP testing while the Mazda 2 Hybrid’s four-star score is carried over from the fundamentally identical Toyota Yaris.