RENAULT'S EPURE SAFETY CAR.

The Renault EPURE is an R5-size small car of outstanding anti-injury performance, named after the Etude de la Protection des Usagers de la Route et de l'Environnement. The criteria EPURE had to meet were severe. First, belted occupants had to be able to survive a frontal and a 30 degree oblique impact with a fixed barrier at no less than 65 km/h (40 mile/h). Survivability had to be provided also in a 50 km/h (31 mile/h) lateral impact from another vehicle of equal weight, and in rollover at the same speed. Rear-end protection had to be sufficient to cope with an impact from an 1100 kg (2425 lb) mass moving at 35 km/h (22 mile/h) and, finally, a pedestrian had to survive being hit by the front of EPURE at 24 km/h (15 mile/h). The weight objective was set at 850 kg, an 18% increase over that of the R5. This target was just achieved with a slightly longer than standard shell, as was that of a maximum fuel-consumption premium of 10%. The article describes how these criteria were met.