It is primarily modeled after safety standards established by Euro NCAP[3] and is run by the China Automotive Technology and Research Center (Chinese: 中国汽车技术研究中心).
The C-NCAP contains four mandatory and one optional crash tests that involve fully built production vehicles impacting barriers.
This test specification is similar to NHTSA standards and is at slightly higher speed than the Euro NCAP.
Both the test vehicle and 1,400 kg (3,090 lb) automobile-shaped four-wheeled barrier platform travel at 50 km/h (31 mph) in opposite directions towards each other during the test; the deformable barrier is designed to simulate a vehicle's crumple zone.
[5] The bottom scraping test against a 150-millimetre (5.91 in) diameter solid hemispherical barrier, which simulates a vehicle running over large objects.
During this time, the battery temperature is monitored, and any fires or explosions lead to failure of the test.
The Euro NCAP Low and High Severity tests have different waveform shapes and lower peak acceleration, despite the latter having a higher speed differential of 24 km/h (15 mph).