Volkswagen e-up! (2019-2022) reliability & safety rating
The Volkswagen e-up! is based on a decade-old design, which means it's not as safe as more modern electric vehicles. Reliability should be good, though.
| Euro NCAP | Adult protection | Child protection | Safety assist |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3 stars (2019) | 81% | 83% | 55% |
Volkswagen has a good reputation for safety and reliability, and while there’s no specific data for the e-up! or its petrol counterpart, we expect it to be a dependable family car in the long run. Don’t be put off by the headline safety score, as this is largely due to the fact that no up! is available with autonomous emergency braking. It’s an expensive system to engineer, unlikely to make financial sense on a car with such narrow profit margins. There’s still a long list of safety features, including airbags and lane-keeping assistance.
Volkswagen e-up! reliability & problems
In general, electric cars are more reliable than their petrol or diesel counterparts – largely due to the fact they do without a complex combustion engine and have fewer moving parts. There’s no specific data on the up! or e-up! from the most recent Driver Power owner satisfaction survey – probably due to the car’s relative rarity. But Volkswagen’s mid-table 17th-place finish in the manufacturer standings isn't terrible. Skoda and SEAT, which build rebadged versions of the e-up!, finished higher up – claiming 12th and 15th respectively.
Safety
The Volkswagen up!’s relatively poor three-star Euro NCAP crash safety rating shouldn’t be ignored, but it should be taken with a pinch of salt. The original design is a decade old, which means much of the kit that was cutting-edge when it was launched has been surpassed by newer technology. The same goes for the tests themselves, which have become more stringent in recent times.
Still, an 81% rating for adult protection shouldn’t be sniffed at – nor should the 83% child safety rating. This most disappointing score is in the ‘safety assist’ category, for which the up! was awarded just 55%. This is largely due to the fact that the car doesn’t come with autonomous emergency braking, (AEB) which is now a prerequisite for the very highest Euro NCAP scores. Still, every version gets a plethora of airbags, anti-lock brakes and traction control, as well as tyre-pressure monitoring and ISOFIX child-seat mounts in the rear.
