Mixed results from latest ANCAP tests

THE recently introduced Alfa Romeo Tonale, Citroen C5X and GWM Ora scored a maximum of five stars in the latest round of ANCAP safety testing, while the BMW i4 and Peugeot 308 managed a four-star result, falling short of scoring thresholds required to achieve top marks.

According to ANCAP, the Alfa Romeo Tonale and GWM Ora performed well in all four key areas of assessment, offering good all-round performance for the protection of adult and child occupants and vulnerable road users, and for their ability to actively avoid a crash through standard-fit collision avoidance systems.

“Solid performance across the board makes the GWM Ora the only battery-electric car in the small passenger segment to hold a five-star ANCAP safety rating against the 2020-2022 test criteria,” said ANCAP CEO Carla Hoorweg.

The GWM Ora scored 92 per cent in the adult occupant protection category, 84 per cent in the child occupant protection category, 74 per cent in the vulnerable road user protection category, and 93 per cent in the safety assist category.

“The five-star rating for the Alfa Romeo Tonale hybrid sees it added to a growing list of small SUVs with strong and green safety credentials,” added Ms Hoorweg.

Alfa Romeo’s long-awaited new entrant scored 84 per cent in the adult occupant protection category, 87 per cent in the child occupant protection category, 67 per cent in the vulnerable road user protection category and 85 per cent in the safety assist category.

The Citroen C5X also achieved a five-star safety rating, one star more than the equivalent model sold in Europe owing to the model sold in Australasia having a more advanced camera-radar ‘fusion’ autonomous emergency braking (AEB) system as standard.

It was shown to provide improved car-to-car AEB performance over the camera-only system fitted to vehicles sold in Europe, ANCAP said.

“The improved active safety specification and performance sees the safety assist score for Australian-sold C5 X vehicles rise to 84 per cent, which is well within our requirements for five stars,” stated Mr Hoorweg.

The Citroen C5X scored 82 per cent in the adult occupant protection category, 88 per cent in the child occupant protection category, 69 per cent in the vulnerable road user protection category, and 84 per cent in the safety assist category.

As with the Citroen C5X, safety assist performance is of an improved standard on the Australian-specified Peugeot 208 when compared to the standard European variant.

“It is good to see Stellantis opting to provide their Australian customers with a system that provides an enhanced level of active safety performance,” said Ms Hoorweg.

However, lower scores in the adult occupant protection field meant the 308’s overall rating fell to four stars.

The Peugeot 308 scored 79 per cent in the adult occupant protection category, 86 per cent in the child occupant protection category, 68 per cent in the vulnerable road user protection category, and 82 per cent in the safety assist category.

A four-star rating was also applied to the all-electric BMW i4. BMW advised ANCAP that the AEB and lane support systems fitted to models sold in Australia and New Zealand are of a higher standard than the systems tested in Europe, yet BMW did not put forward the vehicle to ANCAP for verification testing.

This meant the four-star rating offered under EuroNCAP testing is applied to Australian and New Zealand delivered variants.

In testing, the i4 scored 87 per cent in the adult occupant protection category, 89 per cent in the child occupant protection category, 71 per cent in the vulnerable road user protection category, and 62 per cent in the safety assist category.