THE Consumers' Association has apologised to four car manufacturers after it was attacked for issuing an incorrect press release announcing the results of crash tests carried out under the European New Car Assessment Programme.

The Association's press release focused on the four-star rated Audi A3, Volkswagen Golf and Renault Megane and was particularly criticised by Daewoo, Honda, Hyundai and Suzuki.

Among the 12 lower medium sector cars tested were the Lanos, Civic, Accent and Baleno which the Association described as 'all having been awarded open stars'. In fact the first two had achieved a three-star rating with one open star and the other two a two-star rating each with an open star. An open star meant that while the car fell within the category of total number of stars, in the opinion of NCAP there was an 'unacceptable high risk of serious injury in one of the crash tests'.

This week the Association issued a press release saying: 'We gave the impression that all these cars presented an equivalent, unacceptable risk of injury in overall terms. This was incorrect. We did not intend to represent that the Daewoo, Honda, Suzuki and Hyundai vehicles had all achieved the same results. We wish to apologise for the confusion that has resulted from our original release.'