The latest round of ANCAP safety ratings have been released, but it’s not all good news. Whilst some cars, including the Honda Civic, Hyundai i30 and Mercedes-Benz Marco Polo Activity, all received the maximum 5-star safety rating from ANCAP, the same could not be said for Great Wall Motors ‘all-new’ Steed.
It would appear, in fact, that the Steed is barely new at all. In spite of the Chinese manufacturer claiming ‘outstanding levels of performance, value, safety and comfort,’ it appears that not enough has been done to the bones of the vehicle to warrant any more than 2 stars from ANCAP, the same as the Steed’s predecessor.
ANCAP Chief Executive Officer, Mr James Goodwin said “This is a disappointing result for consumers and the brand. While the Steed is equipped with six airbags and electronic stability control, features which were not offered on the previous model, there has been little change to the vehicle’s structure to improve the safety of the passenger cabin.”
In the ANCAP testing, the area of real concern was the Frontal Offset Test. The Steed scored 8.31 out of 16 with serious concerns resulting from excessive footwell deformation, separation of footwell panels and pedal displacement. Lower leg protection was poor for the driver with steering column components and dash components a potential hazard as well as for the passenger. Whiplash protection was also considered marginal, one step above poor.
Due to the poor rating in the Frontal Offset Test, the Pole Test and Pedestrian Safety Test were not undertaken. The Steed is also considered not suitable to transport young children due to the lack of top tether child restraint anchorages.
Car Conversation contacted Great Wall Motors Great Wall Motors Australia for comment and the brand is disappointed by the performance of the new Steed in ANCAP testing.
GWMA spokesperson Andrew Ellis said the company was taking immediate steps to see what could be done to rectify the situation.
“We have sent all the data to our engineering team in head office and set up a response team to investigate what needs to be done to improve the ANCAP performance of our product. “
Ellis said safety was a priority in the company’s product planning, which is why ESC and six airbags were made standard features across the range.
“We thought the additional safety features would help improve the Steed’s ANCAP rating. It’s clear to everyone in the organisation our ANCAP test standards need a dramatic improvement.”
On a more positive note, the 5-star ANCAP safety rating for the Honda Civic and Hyundai i30 applies to all variants, apart from the Honda Civic Type R which is still to be tested.
The only aspect not to get a perfect score for both the hatch and sedan Honda Civic varieties was in side impact test, but with only a slight risk of serious injury.
The Mercedes-Benz Marco Polo Activity being a variant of the Mercedes-Benz V-Class retains the 5-star ANCAP safety rating on all models built since January 2017. The only concern in its testing was in the Pole Test driver chest protection was marginal.
Let’s start a Car Conversation, do you think the ANCAP safety rating will hurt Great Wall’s Steed sales? How much do you consider ANCAP ratings when purchasing a car?
Car Conversation will be publishing a review of the 2017 Great Wall Steed in the near future.
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