New Q3 and A6 in top 10 safest cars in Britain 

The new A6 and Q3 have been named by Thatcham Research as two of the 10 safest new cars on sale in Britain.

The new Q3 had the highest overall Euro NCAP score in the list with 87 per cent, and a five-star rating, standing out from the competition with its crash avoidance technology.

Audi’s premium A6 saloon was included on this list because of its many safety features, which include a pop-up bonnet that is designed to protect pedestrians and cyclists in the event of a collision.

The top-10 list, compiled by crash-test experts Thatcham Research, was based on vehicles that have the most up-do-date technology to avoid collisions and are volume sellers, to assess if they would have a greater impact on road safety in general.

The performance of the vehicles’ autonomous emergency braking (AEB) systems was tested. Models fitted with adaptive cruise control, speed recognition and control and steering support were also tested as these are a step towards vehicle automation.

Matthew Avery, director of research at Thatcham said: “It's clear that occupants of the latest cars are at a lower risk than ever.

“But not resting on our successes, we raised the bar in safety testing for 2018. This means the ten cars in this list are some of the safest ever made, anywhere in the world.”