Watch a dozen cars deliberately crashed head-on in slow motion (4'26")

As part of a European wide programme to test car safety, 12 cars were put through a frontal crash at 40mph and a side impact crash at 30mph.

Four of them - the Daewoo Lanos, Honda Civic, Hyundai Ascent and the Suzuki Baleno - were awarded a "flagged" star, which means an unacceptably high risk of injury to drivers or passengers.

They were judged to expose their drivers to a high risk of chest injury.

The Suzuki Baleno, which has no drivers airbag as standard, was also found to expose the driver to a risk of severe head injury in the event of a crash.

An Audi A3 hits the test barrier

Slow motion pictures showed some airbags opening too late, and child-seats being thrown around inside the passenger compartment.

However, the programme is creating safer cars. Three manufacturers - Audi, Citroën and Volkswagen - are fitting side-impact airbags as standard as a result of the tests.

Three cars achieved top marks in the tests and were awarded the maximum of four stars. The Audi A3 and the Volkswagen Golf did well in both frontal and side-impact tests.

The Renault Megane provided the best protection out of all the cars in the frontal impact test, although did less well on the side-impact test.

Saving lives

Carried out in the Transport Research Laboratory in Berkshire, England and also in the Netherlands, the tests form the third phase of a European New Car Assessment Programme.

Car makers were at first hostile to the programme when it began 18 months ago. But since then manufacturers have started to make design improvements in response to the findings.

Max Mosley, chairman of the programme, said: "Three manufacturers now include side-impact airbags as standard in their small family cars as a direct result of our tests. I am delighted by this level of co-operation and such clear evidence of their efforts to make their cars safer than before."

The UK's Minister for Transport Gavin Strang said he was also encouraged by the response of car makers to the tests, but he said: "Clearly there is no room for complacency."

Every year in Europe 25,000 car occupants are killed and another million injured in road accidents. A further 8,000 pedestrians are also killed.

Costly dummies

The programme uses the latest hi-tech crash test dummies which each cost over £100,000 to build. Child dummies that are the weight and size of a typical 18-month-old and a three-year-old have been specially developed for the programme.

It is currently funded by the European Commission, the UK Department of the Environment, Transport and the Regions, the Dutch Ministry of Transport and the Swedish National Road Administration, International Testing and motoring organisations across Europe.