Car of the Year Awards 2026: Safety Award

As well as keeping its occupants safe in a crash, the BMW X3 is full of active safety technology that aims to prevent accidents from happening in the first place. 

The X3 is equipped with cameras that accurately recognise road speed signs, enabling the car to warn you if you’re accidentally exceeding the speed limit, and you get advance notice of when it changes. If the adaptive cruise control is activated, the car slows to the correct speed automatically. 

There’s also a system that can detect if you’re straying out of your lane and brings you back into it, plus there’s an in-car camera-based driver monitoring system that detects driver fatigue and distraction when the car is being driven using cruise control. 

However, what really sets the X3 apart is how unobtrusively the suite of advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) works. Unlike the ADAS in many cars, none of the X3’s beep or intervene unnecessarily; instead, they work collaboratively with the driver to gently assist and help keep the car and its occupants safe. This means the technology is far less likely to be turned off by whoever’s behind the wheel. 

All X3 trim levels also have a pop-up bonnet that helps to reduce injuries to cyclists and pedestrians in the event of a collision. The only chink in the X3’s safety armour is that the rear-end automatic emergency braking system is an option rather than standard equipment. 

Runners up

2nd

Scoring highly in Euro NCAP safety tests, every Smart #5 has automatic emergency braking, lane-keeping assistance, blindspot detection and lane-change assistance. 

It also has an excellent driver monitoring system that provides alerts only when you look away from the road for a long time or are acting fatigued. It didn’t issue any false warnings in our tests, so it’s unlikely that drivers will want to turn it off. 

While the speed assistance system is good at reading speed limit signs accurately, it isn’t as sophisticated as the one in the BMW X3, because it doesn’t slow the car down automatically as it approaches a lower limit. 

3rd Skoda Elroq

The Skoda Elroq is a great example of safety being democratised; higher trim levels offer the same suite of driver assistance systems as much pricier VW Group models such as the Tayron seven-seat SUV. 

The Elroq’s lane-keeping function is excellent, providing correct warnings 100% of the time, and the speed recognition is very accurate and competent at reading UK road signs. 

It doesn’t have a direct driver monitoring system, so it’s not as good at detecting fatigue or distraction as the X3 and #5. It does monitor steering inputs to detect and warn about drowsiness, though. 

What we looked for 

- The maximum five-star Euro NCAP safety rating and an overall rating of three stars or higher in What Car? road tests. 

- Non-intrusive driver assistance systems, including automatic emergency braking and speed limit assistance that aren’t too forceful and don’t provide false alerts. 

- A speed assistance system that shows the current limit, alerts drivers to upcoming changes and alters speed gradually to suit when cruise control is activated. 

- Lane-keeping assistance that gives gentle nudges and audible warnings if a car starts to stray into another lane. 

- Models with a low Vehicle Risk Rating, because they’re fitted with active safety systems that help to prevent accidents. And if they do have a prang, they are easy and cost-effective to repair. 

- Affordable, high sales volume models that will ensure the highest standards of safety are brought to more road users. 

The judges

Richard Billyeald Thatcham Research’s chief research and operations officer, leading teams in identifying new features and tech to advance cars globally. 

Alex Thompson Principal engineer for automotive safety at Thatcham, utilising 24 years of experience to guide safety research for the organisation. 

Yousif Al-Ani Principal engineer for advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), specialising in ADAS hardware and software. 

Claire Evans What Car?’s consumer editor has worked in automotive journalism for 30 years and has overseen our safety award for the past eight years. 

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See all of our 2026 Car of the Year Awards winners >>