Four NEV models five-star safe

ANCAP has issued top safety marks to a bundle of new energy vehicles (NEVs) this week, with the Ford Mustang Mach-E, GWM Haval Jolion Hybrid, and battery electric Genesis G80 and GV70 all receiving a five-star rating.

Ford Mustang Mach-E variants excluding the GT now offer five-star safety. ANCAP awarded full points for the protection offered to the diver in the side impact and oblique pole tests of the model, as well as child occupants in the side impact and frontal offset test.

However, ANCAP said the frontal structure of the Mustang Mach-E presented a relatively high risk to occupants of an oncoming vehicle, and as such, a 3.45 point penalty (out of 4.00 points) was applied.

In examining its collision avoidance capability, ANCAP said the Mustang Mach-E offered Good performance for its lane keeping and autonomous emergency braking capabilities. However, as its AEB back-over and driver fatigue systems do not default to ‘on’ at the start of each trip, points were not awarded in these areas.

The Ford Mustang Mach-E achieved a 92 per cent grade in adult occupant protection, 88 per cent in child occupant protection, 69 per cent in vulnerable road user protection, and 82 per cent in the safety assist field of testing.

ANCAP also extended the five-star rating applied to GWM Haval Jolion, Genesis GV70 and Genesis G80 ICE variants to hybrid and electric models. Following additional destructive crash testing, the NEV variants of each model was said to offer comparable safety performance to its petrol derivative.

The GWM Haval Jolion achieved a 90 per cent grade in adult occupant protection, 84 per cent in child occupant protection, 64 per cent in vulnerable road user protection, and 92 per cent in the safety assist field of testing.

For the Genesis GV70 Electrified and G80 Electrified, the additional test also demonstrated comparable levels of safety performance to ICE derivatives. However, the post-crash assessment of the G80 Electrified revealed that the automatic door locking function did not release following the frontal offset crash test.

Genesis has undertaken to implement a production fix.

The Genesis G80 Electrified achieved a 91 per cent grade in adult occupant protection, 86 per cent in child occupant protection, 77 per cent in vulnerable road user protection, and 80 per cent in the safety assist field of testing; while the Genesis GV70 Electrified scored 89 per cent, 89 per cent, 64 per cent, and 87 per cent across the four fields respectively.

“With these new results, there are now over 100 battery electric, hybrid, plug-in hybrid and hydrogen models rated by ANCAP which hold a five-star rating – providing plenty of choice to consumers across a range of vehicle brands, models and price points,” said ANCAP chief executive officer, Carla Hoorweg.