Vehicle safety should be a major priority for any company fleet, but with so many models to choose from, fleet decision makers can be overwhelmed by the wealth of options currently crowding the new car marketplace.

Luckily, Euro NCAP has helped whittle it down by naming its best-in-class cars for 2017.

Last year was the busiest yet for the vehicle safety assessor, which carried out crash tests for almost 70 new cars.

The year reaped the first ever zero-star rating – more on that here – but overall, 2017 was a decent year for new car safety.

Volkswagen can hold its head especially high after topping half of the six categories; two of them with never-before-released nameplates.

The well-established Polo was the class leader for superminis, but less familiar were the T-Roc [pictured] and Arteon, which won the small off-road and executive car categories respectively.

Other best-in-class vehicles were the Volvo XC60 – named safest new large off-road car – Vauxhall’s Crossland X (small MPV) and Subaru’s XV and Impreza (small family car).

‘Highest levels of safety’

Most of the models tested in 2017 achieved the maximum five-star rating which, considering Euro NCAP’s increasingly tough assessment regime, suggests manufacturers are putting in the effort to push the boundaries of new car safety.

Pedestrian-detecting autobrake systems was already available on 82 per cent of the cars tested by Euro NCAP in 2017, coming as standard on 62 per cent of them.

Michiel van Ratingen, secretary general of Euro NCAP, congratulated Volkswagen for bagging a trio of category awards.

“To win best-in-class in three different categories is a great achievement and underlines the company’s commitment to providing the highest levels of safety to its customers,” he commented, before also praising Subaru, Vauxhall and the dependably safe Volvo.

“More broadly though, it is encouraging to see so many new cars performing so well in all areas of safety and being equipped with greater levels of life-saving technology,” Mr van Ratingen added.

Heather Stark, brand manager at The Fuelcard People, commented: “It’ll be reassuring to fleet decision makers that so many car makers are trying to optimise the safety of their new cars.”