As the SUV market explodes offering many new entrants ANCAP has completed another round of testing for three newcomers, the Hyundai Kona, Holden Equinox and MG ZS, but not all have achieved a maximum safety rating. Testing was also recently completed for the new BMW X3.
After an impressive performance by MG’s larger GS model with the first 5-star safety rating for a Chinese brand, the smaller MG ZS has failed to match its larger counterpart only receiving a 4-star safety rating.
The 4-star safety rating for the ZS was mainly due to a sub-standard head-on crash test which only scored 10.46 points out of a possible 16 points. The passenger airbag failed to sufficiently inflate in a timely manner causing the dummy head to ‘bottom-out’ through the airbag and onto the dash. Protection for the driver’s knee area was also insufficient.
Adding to this no form of autonomous emergency braking (AEB) or lane support is offered in the ZS.
The overall rating for the MG ZS came in at 31.46 out of 37 points with 26.55 points out of 36 for the pedestrian protection score. The 4-star safety rating applies to all MG ZS variants from December 2017 onwards.
In contrast to the ZS the fellow competitor in the small SUV segment, the Hyundai Kona, offered a much higher level of protection.
ANCAP Chief Executive, Mr James Goodwin, said of the Kona, “Its crash test performance was well within 5-star range, and AEB is offered for all variants though it must be optioned on the base variant in Australia. AEB is, however, a standard inclusion on all New Zealand variants.”
This was an excellent effort for the new Kona with an overall rating of 35.07 points out of 37 and a pedestrian protection score of 24.60 out of 36 points, considered an ‘Acceptable’ score though lower than the MG ZS. The 5-star safety rating applies to all Hyundai Kona variants from September 2017 onwards.
The Holden Equinox also delivered a solid performance throughout testing. The only downside was the need to move into the higher-spec variants to access the AEB and lane keep assist.
A score of 34.21 out of 37 was achieved overall for the Equinox with a pedestrian protesting score of 26.95 out of 36 points. Holden Equinox variants built from December 2017 onwards are all included in the 5-star safety rating.
Although sitting in a slightly different SUV category, the BMW X3 also offered high levels of safety. Mr Goodwin noted that “The X3 is also well-specified with active safety technologies offering a slightly higher standard safety specification than the X3 offered in Europe.”
“Lane departure warning and intelligent speed assistance systems are offered as standard inclusions on Australian and New Zealand models,” Mr Goodwin said.
“It is encouraging to see standard safety inclusions being prioritised for our market,” Mr Goodwin added.
As testing was carried out by EuroNCAP scoring is surmised slightly differently with a rating of 93% for Adult Occupant Protection, 84% for Child Occupant Protection and 70% for Pedestrian Protection. This achieves a 5-star safety rating which applies to xDrive20d variants built from November 2017 onwards.
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