Mercedes-Benz GLE, G-Class score five ANCAP stars
BY JUSTIN HILLIARD | 5th Jul 2019
THE Australasian New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP) has a new gold standard for child occupant protection, with the Mercedes-Benz GLE large SUV stepping up to register a score of 92 per cent, which formed part of its five-star result achieved alongside its G-Class sibling.
“The standout area of performance was child occupant protection where it achieved the highest score to date at, 92 per cent,” said ANCAP chief executive James Goodwin. “This result for the GLE is encouraging.”
Specifically, GLE scored 45.24 out of 49 in child occupant protection, with perfect results coming from the side impact at 50km/h (eight out of eight) and restraint installation (12 out of 12) tests.
The large SUV fell just short of perfection in the frontal offset at 64km/h test (15.24 out of 16) due to the ‘marginal’ neck protection provided to the 10-year-old dummy.
Meanwhile, onboard safety features returned a score of 10 out of 13 due to the lack of top tethers for GLE’s optional third row.
Predictably, the fourth-generation Mercedes-Benz large SUV performed just as well when it came to adult occupant protection, recording 91 per cent (34.93 out of 38), although it only performed without fault in the side impact at 50km/h test (eight out of eight).
That said, even GLE’s poorest crash result was still strong, with the oblique pole at 32km/h test returning a score of 6.93 out of eight due to ‘marginal’ chest protection for the driver.
As for the other two major categories of testing, the new model was awarded 78 per cent for vulnerable road-user protection and 79 per cent for safety assist, with the latter enabled by the standard fitment of autonomous emergency braking and lane-keep assist.
Meanwhile, G-Class was not that far behind GLE’s pace, totalling 90 per cent in adult occupant protection, 85 per cent in child occupant protection, 78 per cent in vulnerable road-user protection, and 73 per cent in safety assist.
Given that the upper-large SUV is universally regarded as a true off-roader, this is a result that outshines two of its peers that have recently returned much poorer scores, the one-star Jeep Wrangler and three-star Suzuki Jimny.
“Mercedes has done the right thing by their customers in offering five-star safety for this category of vehicle,” Mr Goodwin said.
G-Class was troubled in the frontal offset at 64km/h (6.45 out of eight) and full-width frontal at 50km/h (6.60 out of eight) tests, offering ‘weak’ chest protection for the driver and rear passenger respectively.
The former test also saw ‘poor’ neck protection provided for the 10-year-old dummy.
GLE’s rating applies to all three of its launch variants, while the AMG G63 flagship is the only G-Class variant so far to receive a rating. Both model’s line-ups will expand in the next 12 months with new offerings.
As has become the norm, ANCAP’s ratings in both cases were based on results from its European counterpart, which crash-tested left-hand-drive examples of the GLE350d and G350d.
