BYD’s five-star ANCAP Safety streak ends

BYD’s unbroken run of five-star ANCAP Safety ratings has come to an end with the plug-in hybrid Sealion 5 mid-size SUV awarded just three stars under ANCAP Safety’s tougher new 2026-2028 testing criteria – while the brand’s new M9 people mover achieved the maximum five-star result in the same round of assessments.

It makes the Sealion 5 the first BYD model tested by ANCAP Safety to miss out on five stars, breaking a streak that’s held across every other BYD sold in Australia, including the entry-level Atto 1 hatchback that recently became the nation’s cheapest new car outright.

According to ANCAP Safety, the Sealion 5’s occupant protection in crash testing was respectable, with both adult and child occupants reasonably well protected – though newer Virtual and Sled test assessments showed that protection eased off for larger occupants and under higher-severity test conditions.

Where the SUV really fell down was in Crash Avoidance and Safe Driving, scoring just 51 per cent and 48 per cent respectively.

The standout failure was the Sealion 5’s emergency lane-keeping system, which did not intervene at all during ANCAP Safety’s road-edge test scenarios – a capability the organisation has been actively encouraging in its ratings criteria since 2018.

ANCAP Safety was blunt about why that matters: unintended lane departures account for 42 per cent of fatal crashes and 55 per cent of fatalities in light-vehicle crashes on Australian roads.

The SUV was also marked down for a string of missing features that are already standard on other current BYD models, including child presence detection (assessed by ANCAP Safety since 2023), a seatbelt misuse alert, stature classification (which tailors restraint response to occupant size), and low-speed pedal-misapplication protection, which cuts engine power if the accelerator is pressed by mistake with a pedestrian nearby.

The Sealion 5 also misses out on automatic eCall functionality, despite otherwise offering a reasonable spread of post-crash features including battery thermal management and multi-collision braking.

The three-star rating covers both the Essential and Premium Sealion 5 variants sold locally.

BYD Australia pushed back on any suggestion the result reflects declining safety standards, telling media the Sealion 5 is a safe vehicle that complies with all Australian Design Rules (ADRs) and regulatory safety standards.

“ANCAP Safety introduced an updated testing protocol in 2026, with a strengthened assessment criteria compared to the 2023-2025 protocol, which was applicable to the Sealion 5 at the time of its global introduction,” the company said.

“The current rating reflects this new standard, not any change in BYD’s commitment to safety.

“Every other BYD vehicle tested by ANCAP Safety has been awarded a five-star rating, which speaks to this commitment.”

Notably, the Sealion 5 wasn’t put forward for testing by BYD itself…

The importer had instead nominated its larger Sealion 8 PHEV SUV for assessment under the outgoing protocol – which it passed with a five-star score – while shelving earlier plans to test the Sealion 5.

ANCAP Safety has confirmed it selected the Sealion 5 independently.

“BYD continues to be proactive in bringing forward models for ANCAP testing,” said ANCAP Safety CEO Carla Hoorweg.

“However, the Sealion 5 was a model the brand had not actively pursued for testing and was subsequently selected by ANCAP to ensure consumers have a clear picture of its safety performance.”

The M9, BYD’s first Australian-market people mover, fared considerably better.

Aimed at larger families and passenger-transport operators, the seven-seat PHEV comes standard with a suite of features ANCAP Safety has been encouraging under its 2026-2028 criteria, including stature classification, child presence detection, and a driver distraction monitoring system, all of which performed well in testing.

Its autonomous emergency braking (AEB) and lane-support systems also performed strongly, contributing to a 78 per cent Crash Avoidance score and 75 per cent in Safe Driving.

Crash Protection testing showed low injury risk across most scenarios, netting an 89 per cent score, with good whiplash protection recorded for first- and second-row seats and a marginal result for the third row.

ANCAP Safety did flag that several child restraints could not be correctly fitted to the left outboard third-row seating position, despite a top-tether anchorage being provided there.

The M9 capped things off with a perfect 100 per cent Post-Crash score, covering emergency information provision, battery voltage isolation, post-crash fire-risk management and accessible door releases from both inside and outside the vehicle and eCall is also fitted.

The five-star rating currently applies to seven-seat variants.

Ms Hoorweg said the contrasting results underline the purpose of ANCAP Safety’s updated testing regime.

“Both the M9 and Sealion 5 have been tested against our latest 2026-2028 star rating requirements,” she added.

“These requirements continue to encourage balanced safety performance across all four stages of assessment, with the Sealion 5 not able to match the safety offering of its stablemate.”

She also pointed to BYD’s broader trajectory in the local market.

“BYD is leaving a noticeable mark on the Australian and New Zealand new car markets, quickly rising to become Australia’s second highest-selling brand since its arrival in 2022,” she noted.

For buyers cross-shopping the segment, the result puts some pressure on the Sealion 5 against rivals like the Toyota RAV4 and Mitsubishi Outlander PHEV; though it’s worth noting the current-generation RAV4, introduced in 2025, remains unrated by ANCAP altogether.

Even so, with several of the missing safety features already standard on other BYD models, the three-star result may prompt some Sealion 5 shoppers to ask why.