On the 20th of January, 2009, 56-year-old mother-of-three Judith Evans was killed when her Peugeot 107 hit a Vauxhall Vectra in a head-on collision in Buckinghamshire, UK. The matter recently went to court where it was heard that the victim sustained multiple fractures and chest and abdominal injuries which the Thames Valley Police noticed were unusually severe given the force of impact.
Experts from Peugeot and Vehicle Safety Consultancy Ltd believe that the 107 should have provided good protection for this sort of crash, and yet this was not the case. Why?
Evans' Peugeot 107 met all EuroNCAP safety standards, with the 107 and it's Citroen C1 and Toyota Aygo siblings having scored four stars in a 2005 test. It was fitted with front seatbelt pre-tensioners and load limiters along with front and side body airbags for both driver and passenger.
The investigation suggests it may have to do with weight. Not the weight of the Vectra compared to the 107, as Peugeot has suggested, but the weight of the 107's driver.