MG 4 Electric nabs five-star safety rating

ANCAP has announced a five-star safety rating for the newly released MG 4 Electric.

The MG 4 performed well against all aspects of the assessment based on the 2020-2022 rating criteria and is the latest new energy vehicle to score a five-star ANCAP rating since the assessment of the Ford Mustang Mach-E, Genesis G80 and GV70, and GWM Haval Jolion Hybrid last month.

Noting the MG 4 Electric’s standard fitment of a range of collision avoidance technologies, including autonomous emergency braking, active lane support and fatigue monitoring, ANCAP said Good results were seen for the model’s AEB cyclist and “some” car-to-car scenarios, including when turning across the path of an oncoming vehicle (junction assist).

However, mixed results were observed in AEB pedestrian test scenarios, while AEB backover functionality, designed to detect and respond to pedestrians when reversing, is not available in the MG 4 Electric.

The lane support system fitted to the MG 4 Electric offered Good performance in lane keep assist test scenarios, but only Adequate performance in the more critical emergency lane keeping test scenarios.

Maximum points were awarded to the structural performance of the MG 4 Electric when crash tested, with ANCAP noting that the model provided a mixture of Good, Adequate and Marginal results in full width front and frontal offset (MPDB) tests.

However, penalties were applied for excessive forward movement of the rear passenger dummy in the full width frontal test, and for potential “hard contact” to the driver’s knees in the MPDB test.

The MPDB test, which also assesses vehicle-to-vehicle compatibility, demonstrated that the MG 4 Electric presented a “relatively low injury risk” to the occupants of an oncoming vehicle, with a “modest” 0.69-point penalty applied.

Unfortunately, the MG 4 Electric is not fitted with a centre airbag or similar countermeasure to prevent contact between front seat occupants. As such, prevention of excursion – the movement of a front seat occupant to the opposite side of the vehicle – was assessed as Adequate for the vehicle-to-vehicle crash scenario and Poor for the vehicle-to-pole test.

The small segment MG 4 Electric scored 83 per cent (31.64 points from a possible 38) in the Adult Occupant Protection category, 86 per cent (42.35 points from a possible 49) in the Child Occupant Protection category, 75 per cent (40.63 points from a possible 54) in the Vulnerable Road User category and 81 per cent (12.98 points from a possible 16) in the Safety Assist category.

“The MG 4 Electric is the first MG model to achieve five stars under ANCAP’s 2020-2022 protocols,” said ANCAP chief executive, Carla Hoorweg.