Thatcham

Thatcham provide a unique range of products and services to the insurance and motor repair industries. Primarily, we conduct research and produce data to assist in the efficient, safe and cost effective repair of motor vehicles. Thatcham also work closely with vehicle manufacturers to influence the design of new vehicles and improve safety and security. Our research helps produce designs which limit damage, whilst improving the ease of repair following an accident. We are best known by motorists for testing vehicle security systems and for our work in testing seats for whiplash prevention. Less well known is the fact that we provide some 70% of the data that insurers use to define a car’s insurance grouping.

Thatcham published Electronic Stability Control (ESC) fitment ratings in August 2006 to demonstrate the availability of ESC on the current UK new vehicle fleet, either fitted as standard, as an option or not present at all. You can find Thatcham's current ESC fitment ratings and some background on our ESC research at www.thatcham.org/esc. Thatcham will issue updated fitment ratings via this web page in May 2007.

As founder member of the international Research Council for Automobile Repairs (RCAR), Thatcham have also been a member of the European New Car Assessment Programme (Euro NCAP) since 2004.

www.thatcham.org