More five-star results from ANCAP

THE Australasian New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP) has awarded five-star safety ratings to the Mercedes-Benz GLC, Lexus RX and the Jaguar XE, after all were launched with some of the desired standard active safety features.

ANCAP chief executive officer James Goodwin said the latest results reflected a new era of vehicle safety as the inclusion of standard safety systems such as autonomous emergency braking (AEB) helped eliminate or reduce the severity of a crash.

“With a concerning 7.9 per cent increase in pedestrian fatalities across Australia in 2015 there needs to be a strong focus on vehicle technology to help contribute to reducing this figure,” he said.

The Mercedes-Benz GLC mid-size SUV was launched in Australia late last year and tested by Euro NCAP in left-hand-drive form.

It achieved 95 per cent for its adult occupant protection, including full marks for side impact tests, with a driver’s knee airbag added to the front, side and curtain airbag list, while child occupant protection ranked at 89 per cent and pedestrian protection scored 82 per cent.

The Mercedes scored 71 per cent for safety assist, a result that reflects the absence of any standard lane keeping or departure warning systems“The GLC is a new model to the growing SUV market and buyers in this category now have another choice of vehicle offering excellent safety features including AEB, but we would have hoped that lane keeping assistance would be standard,” Mr Goodwin said.

The Jaguar XE mid-size sedan was launched in August last year and, as reported by GoAuto, it won the Euro NCAP Best In Class award for its segment.

The smallest Jaguar model was tested by Euro NCAP in 2.0 diesel Prestige right-hand-drive form and received full marks for side impact protection and the presence of stability control, seatbelt reminders and lane departure warning.

Its overall adult occupant protection (which includes front, side and curtain airbags) was rated at 92 per cent, with child occupant protection and safety assistance systems both at 82 per cent and pedestrian protection at 81 per cent.

“The Jaguar scored well in physical testing and offers a suite of advanced safety features you would expect in a luxury vehicle including AEB as standard,” Mr Goodwin said.

The Lexus RX was introduced to Australia in October 2015 and the ANCAP rating applies to all variants.

The new Japanese luxury SUV – tested in 450h hybrid LHD guise – scored an overall adult occupant protection rating of 83 per cent, with child occupant protection at 82 per cent and pedestrian impact protection at 79 per cent.

A safety systems rating of 74 per cent resulted from the Australian models returned different AEB results to the European model tested by Euro NCAP.

“The Lexus AEB-city system does not meet low-speed test requirements and so scored zero for Adult Occupant Protection,” the test report said.

The omission of the speed sign recognition system – which is available in Europe – from the Australia-bound models also reduced the car’s overall score.

“The RX joins a competitive SUV market and offers a range of safety assist technologies as standard, including AEB, lane support system and reverse collision avoidance,” Mr Goodwin said.

“These new technologies can help avoid a crash in the first place and so we would urge consumers to look for a car with not only good structural performance, but with features to potentially prevent a collision,” he said.