Hi everyone,

I've been looking to buy a new Octavia. My wife and I really love the car but I am a little spooked by the NCAP crash test results. NCAP tested the 2007 version of the Octavia II, and it fared pretty poorly in a frontal offset test.

My dealer tells me that, like the Yeti and the Superb the current (2012) Octavia is a "5 star" car from a safety perspective, It is just that it has not been tested by NCAP. My problem is that I have no evidence at all that the problems in the original 2007 tests have been fixed.

In particular, the original test reported a risk of injury to pelvis and knees, because of risk of impacting the dash (I think the centre console was a culprit) and the steering coumn.

Does anyone know whether there were any major changes to the dashboard and console in the 2009 facelift of the Octavia? Was the steering column replaced as well as the wheel?

Can anyone comment as to whether Skoda actually believe this car would get a 5 star safety score if it was retested by NCAP? Or is is really just essentially an old, unsafe design?

Octavia is 4 stars when tested in 2004, I guess there weren't enough changes after 2007 to warrant a retest?

http://www.euroncap....a_2004/206.aspx

It says they test the Ambiente model, I'm not sure if the higher spec cars would score higher. My L&K has more airbags as standard, etc

As noted above, the NCAP test was on a basic spec model and you can specify more airbags, ESP, etc. I've had a 07 and 60 plated octavia and the basic engineering of the steering col hasnt changed. This hard point seemed to be the main problem. I think the Yeti addresses this with a knee airbag. Your dealer is verging on misrepresentation if he says it's a 5* car without evidence.

I won't be too concerned as a Golf Mk5 is NCAP 5 and the Octavia Mk2 is based on the similar chassis but only thing missing for it not to score a 5 may be curtain airbags and ESP, which are standard on all Golf Mk5s.