More top ANCAP scores

THREE more vehicles have been awarded the Australasian New Car Assessment Program's highest rating, with the full five stars being awarded to Skoda's new Fabia, the Holden Astra and Jeep's Grand Cherokee.

The Australian vehicle safety tester gave particular praise to Skoda for providing autonomous emergency braking across the Fabia small hatchback and wagon range, which can mitigate or even prevent a collision without driver intervention.

In a statement, ANCAP chief executive officer Nicholas Clarke encouraged other manufacturers to recognise the results and benefits of AEB and follow the Fabia's lead.

“Now is the time to accelerate the introduction of this important technology across the Australian vehicle fleet,” said Mr Clarke. “ANCAP is buoyed by the decision by Skoda to provide AEB as standard across all Fabia variants and we are continuing our call for all manufacturers to do the same.”“Sophisticated vehicle safety technologies such as AEB will lead the way in reducing road trauma at an unprecedented rate.”

All three vehicles scored the maximum star rating, thanks to a two-from-two score in the pole test and good whiplash performance in all cases.

The current Grand Cherokee has been on sale in Australia for two years, and has been awarded its five-star score retroactively. It covers all variants since 2013 except the high-performance SRT8. It performed particularly well in side impact tests, scoring a maximum of 16 out of 16.

Pedestrian protection was rated at 'marginal' and 16.06 out of 36 with its high bonnet likely to cause injury to children, but occupants are offered good upper leg, head and neck protection in the frontal offset test.

FCA Australia product strategy and marketing director Zac Loo said the result would attract more Australians to the Grand Cherokee.

“This five-star rating follows the Grand Cherokee’s equally impressive five-star result in America’s NHTSA crash-test program, and is all down to the tireless work of our engineers who strive to make every model as safe as possible,” he said.

“We know how important safety is to families when deciding on a vehicle, and this result means further peace of mind for our customers.”

Now reintroduced wearing Holden badges, the previously Opel-branded Astra range maintains its five-star rating. The small hatchback also managed a 'marginal' pedestrian rating with poor bonnet impact protection and a score of 18 out of 36.

Like the Jeep, its bumper impact protection was rated as good, and it too scored the maximum four out of four for frontal offset occupant protection in the areas of upper legs, head and neck.

Despite a lower score in chest protection during a side impact, the Astra scored well in the side impact test with 14.29 out of a possible 16 points.

In addition to its autonomous braking, the Skoda also fared well in the side impact test with 15.49 points out of the possible 16, while offering the best pedestrian protection of the three thanks to good bonnet and bumper impact protection.

Overall, the Skoda scored 34.16 out of 37, the Jeep managed a final mark of 34.09, while the Holden came in with a 33.35 result.

All three models benefit from ESC, EBD dual frontal, side and curtain airbags, and seat belt reminders fitted as standard. The Jeep also gets a driver's knee airbag and blind spot monitoring.