ANCAP: Five stars for Renegade, Tiguan and X1

THE Australasian New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP) has handed down a maximum five-star crash-test safety rating to the BMW X1, Jeep Renegade and Volkswagen Tiguan SUVs.

ANCAP singled out the German duo for their standard active safety systems, the Tiguan having high- and low-speed autonomous emergency braking (AEB) plus lane-keeping assistance, and the X1 providing AEB with pedestrian detection and a pop-up bonnet designed to reduce the impact in a pedestrian collision.

While the Italian-American Jeep fared well in terms of crash protection, ANCAP CEO James Goodwin called out the Renegade’s comparative lack of standard crash-preventing active safety technology as “an obvious omission”.

The BMW scored 90 per cent for adult occupant protection, with maximum scores for the side-impact and pole tests. It also got 87 per cent for child occupant protection and 74 per cent for pedestrian protection. Front whiplash protection was deemed ‘good’ but in the rear it was ‘marginal’.

Volkswagen’s Tiguan blitzed adult occupant protection with 96 per cent overall, including perfect scores for the side, pole and whiplash tests. Child occupant protection was 84 per cent and pedestrian protection 62 per cent.

As it was tested by Euro NCAP, the Renegade was subject to a different scoring system, with a strong 36.41 out of 37 overall comprising 15.41 out of 16 in the frontal offset test and full marks in the side-impact and pole tests. Whiplash protection was ‘good’ and pedestrian protection ‘acceptable’.

These latest ratings apply to all-wheel-drive Tiguan variants launched in September this year, front-drive Renegades built from May 2016 and all X1 variants sold in Australia and New Zealand since October 2015.

As such, the Tiguan and Renegade receive their ratings with a 2016 mark and the X1’s marked 2015 under ANCAP’s date-stamped system, which is designed to illustrate the ever-toughening requirements for a five-star result.

“The date-stamp is now the point-of-difference consumers should be looking to when comparing models,” said Mr Goodwin.