5 Car models get ANCAP highest rating
Australia's crash testing board, ANCAP has awarded five car models with the highest possible rating today.
ANCAP, the body in charge of evaluating vehicle safety throughout Australasia, today announced it was scoring five new cars with the maximum five stars score.
Five new models receive full marks
The models achieving the ratings are the Mazda3, Toyota's RAV4, the Volkswagen Touareg, the Lexus UX small SUV and the Range Rover Evoque.
ANCAP boffins test each car across four key areas:
- Adult Occupant Protection (AOP) – Protection given to adults in the front and second row, across the most common types of injury causing accidents.
- Child Occupant Protection (COP) – The level of safety afforded to children occupying rear seats, in appropriate child restraints.
- Vulnerable Road user Protection (VRU) – How the design of the front of the car reduces injury severity for pedestrians. Vehicles are now also checked to see if they can avoid or lower an impact with a pedestrian or cyclist.
- Safety Assist (SA) – Analysis of how effectively the manufacturer uses active safety equipment to avoid crashes or reduce the severity of injuries.
To get five stars, a vehicle must score highly across all categories.
Mazda3
The small Mazda3 impressed ANCAP Chief Executive, James Goodwin. "The physical protection offered by the popular-selling Mazda 3 was excellent, scoring a record high 98% for Adult Occupant Protection," Goodwin said.
The new model, launched in April 2019 has an array of airbags as standard, as well as active safety equipment like autonomous emergency braking, lane keeping assist, land departure warning and a speed assist system. In the end, the Mazda3 scored 89% for child occupant safety, 81% for vulnerable road users and 76% for safety assists.
Toyota RAV4
Toyota's recreational SUV, the RAV4 scored well thanks to a comprehensive AEB set-up. Goodwin explained why the RAV4 earned the pinnacle in automotive safety, "Petrol and hybrid-powered Toyota RAV4 models scored well across the range of tests, with strong performance of its autonomous emergency braking (AEB) system seen across a range of speeds and scenarios with cars, pedestrians and cyclists. In the oblique pole test, engineers noted an issue with the deployment of the side curtain airbag and penalties were applied."
The RAV4 scored 93% for AOP, 89% for COP, 85% for VRU and a safety assist rank of 83%.
Volkswagen Touareg
Volkswagen's large SUV, the Touareg also earned a five star rating. Goodwin broke down the test results.
"In the Large SUV segment, the Volkswagen Touareg offered 'Good' protection in side impact testing. 'Marginal' levels of protection were noted for the chest of the driver in both frontal crash tests and the oblique pole test."
AOP for the Touareg was 89%, COP sits at 88%, VRU was rated at 72% and the level of safety equipment earned the SUV a 78% rating.
Lexus UX
In the small SUV segment, the Lexus UX posted good scores across all categories.
"All FWD and AWD variants of the hybrid Lexus UX are fitted as standard with a range of safety assist features including AEB, lane support and blind spot monitoring, and 'Good' performance was seen across testing of these features," Goodwin commented.
Toyota's luxury arm's SUV offering had some of the highest scores in the latest batch of testing.
For AOP, the SUV scored 96%, COP was 88%, VRU 82% and safety assist matched the RAV4's score of 83%.
Range Rover Evoque
The premium Range Rover Evoque scored well, with one caveat that Goodwin drew attention to.
"The Range Rover Evoque offers a range of active safety assist systems, and tests of its autonomous emergency braking scored well. Tests of lane support functionality showed some 'Good' performance however the system does not intervene in more critical emergency lane keeping scenarios," Goodwin added.
The second generation Evoque scored 94% for AOP, 89% for COP, 72% for pedestrian protection and only 73% for its safety assists.
Newer car models statistically safer
Modern vehicles have to meet more stringent crash testing and data shows they are considerably safer as a result. Older models are weakened as time passed, due to rust.
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Image source: ANCAP
