SERIOUS shortcomings in the safety performance of small family cars have been exposed in a new report published yesterday.

Only a quarter of models tested were awarded full marks for driver and passenger protection with Japanese and other Far Eastern manufacturers faring particularly badly in the latest European New Car Assessment crash test Programme (Euro NCAP).

Five of the cars in the popular mid-range family market - the Daewoo Lanos, Honda Civic, Hyundai Accent, Suzuki Baleno and Mitsubishi Lancer (not currently sold in the UK) - were deemed to present an unacceptably high risk of severe injury to drivers or passengers.

In addition, none of the 12 cars gained more than half marks awarded to measure the safety of pedestrians hit by the front of the vehicle.

The findings mirror similarly disappointing results in two previous Euro NCAP tests on superminis and larger family cars which sparked anger from car companies who criticised the tests, which are tougher than current EU laws require, as selective and inconsistent.

However, Transport Minister Gavin Strang, motoring organisations and consumer groups urged manufacturers to acknowledge they still have some way to go to improve safety standards.

In the tests carried out at the Transport Research Laboratory at Crowthorne, Berkshire, and a test site in Holland, the 12 cars were fitted with dummies and subjected to a 40mph frontal impact crash and a 30mph side-impact crash.

A rating system awarding one to four stars gave four stars, indicating superior crash protection, to just three vehicles - the Audi A3, the Renault Megane and the Volkswagen Golf.

Three more - the Citroen Xsara, Peugeot 306, and the Toyota Corolla - got three stars. The Fiat Brava got two.

The five ''at risk'' cars were marked with a red line through their final star to reflect concerns about crashworthiness.

All cars tested got two stars for protection provided to pedestrians hit by the front of cars except for the Peugeot 306 and the Renault Megane, which each got one.

The market leaders, Ford's Escort and Vauxhall's Astra, were not included for testing as both models are undergoing radical re-designs, however both are expected to be assessed later in the year.

Dr Strang stressed that car companies were keen to respond to

the need to improve road safety, saying: ''Today's results reflect that effort, but clearly there is no room for complacency.''

Mr Andrew McIlwraith, editor of the Consumers' Association's Which Car? magazine, said: ''Although we've witnessed encouraging improvements in car safety design, we hope these widely-publicised tests will force manufacturers to take safety more seriously.''

Euro NCAP chairman Max Mosley insisted the tests showed that a broad range of manufacturers were producing safer cars and responding rapidly to the test programme.

He said: ''For example, three manufacturers now include side-impact airbags as standard on their small family cars as a direct result of our tests.''

Mr Richard Freeman of the AA, a member organisation of Euro NCAP, said many cars performed badly because safety devices like airbags failed to protect occupants properly or because of poor design features which could be easily corrected.

''On some cars we found the position of a lever to adjust the steering column could cause serious knee injuries, but the designers could have prevented this if they had thought about it a bit more first.''

The Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders said it was committed to improving safety and carried out large numbers of crash tests and computer simulations during the development of new vehicles.

However, it added that it was continuing to hold discussions with Euro NCAP officials ''to address our concerns with the programme and to encourage the development of a more objective, consistent and comprehensive safety evaluation programme''.

Luxury car-makers are the next target of the Euro NCAP testers with the likes of Jaguar, Mercedes-Benz and Lexus due to face the crunch in the autumn.

Meanwhile, a survey published yesterday shows the Government's clampdown on big ''gas-guzzling'' vehicles with fuel price increases and plans for a graded system of road tax is beginning to bite.

More than half of Scottish motorists planning to buy a new car will be spending under #9000, according to research by Autoglass Car Confidence Index while nearly two-thirds of Scots already drive cars worth less than #7000.

Autoglass also found overall sales have stalled with just 32% of people north of the Border looking to replace their car within the next year.