But new Honda HR-V, Peugeot 308 and Volvo C40 Recharge awarded just four safety stars in Europe
The Australasian New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP) has awarded its maximum five-star safety rating to the new Kia EV6 electric car, the new-generation Mercedes-Benz C-Class and the Volkswagen Multivan plug-in hybrid, which on now sale in New Zealand but yet to be confirmed for Australia.
The top five-star ANCAP rating for the Kia EV6 comes as no surprise given its sister model, the Hyundai IONIQ 5, earned a similarly high result in October last year.
The Kia’s strongest safety performance was its adult occupant protection, for which it scored 90 per cent, backed up by an 87 per cent score for child occupant protection and an 88 per cent mark for its safety assist systems.
While it still netted an overall five-star rating under ANCAP’s most stringent testing regime (introduced in 2020), the only real blemish on the EV6’s score card was a 64 per cent score for the protection of vulnerable road users (pedestrians and cyclists), with most of the penalties due to head and upper leg impacts.
“The Kia EV6 is equipped with the range of collision avoidance systems we’ve come to expect in today’s five-star cars, and it performed particularly well for its ability to prevent collisions with cyclists, and oncoming vehicles in avoidance tests simulating intersection turns,” said ANCAP chief executive officer Carla Hoorweg said.
For reference, the five-star rating applies to all Kia EV6 vehicles sold in Australia.
But as good as these results are, they aren’t precedent-setting like those of the new Mercedes-Benz C-Class, which is the first model to be awarded full points for both driver and rear occupant (adult female dummy) protection in the full-width frontal test under the 2020-2022 ANCAP criteria.
Broken down more specifically, the new-gen C-Class scored 91 per cent for adult occupant protection, 90 per cent for child occupant protection, 80 per cent for its vulnerable road user protection and 84 per cent for its safety assist systems, even if the autonomous emergency braking system’s pedestrian detection function yielded only an ‘adequate’ mark.
“The C-Class is the first Mercedes-Benz model to be tested against ANCAP’s 2020-2022 protocols, and it has not disappointed,” said Hoorweg.
The fourth people-mover to be tested under ANCAP’s latest 2020-2022 protocols, the Volkswagen Multivan PHEV, was also awarded a five-star ANCAP safety rating, thanks to an adult occupant protection score of 90 per cent, a child occupant protection score of 89 per cent, a 69 per cent score for vulnerable road user protection and a 79 per cent mark for its safety assist systems.
“As the first PHEV people mover to be rated by ANCAP, it’s pleasing to see Volkswagen have provided both a safe and environmentally-friendly option to their customers,” said Hoorweg.
“Today’s results demonstrate that models across a range of market segments, brands and powertrains can continue to achieve the highest levels of safety for Australian and New Zealand consumers.”
Meantime in Europe, the upcoming Volvo C40 Recharge electric hatch, new Peugeot 308 hatch the new Honda HR-V small SUV, which has just been released Down Under, were all awarded a less-than-perfect four-star safety rating by Euro NCAP.
All three models are yet to be tested or rated by ANCAP.