ANCAP: Hyundai’s Genesis tops safety tests

HYUNDAI has upstaged European luxury car brands by scoring a record 36.88 points out of a possible 37 for its upcoming Genesis flagship in Australian New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP) independent crash safety ratings.

The five-star point score for the South Korean-built car is the highest in the 21-year history of the Australian independent safety program, pipping the previous best of 36.78 points by Mercedes-Benz’s B-Class.

The result will provide a perfect launch-pad for the 3.8-litre V6 large car – Hyundai’s first venture into the luxury market in Australia – when it goes into showrooms next month.

Announcing the safety result, ANCAP chairman Lauchlan McIntosh said the Genesis delivered high results across all areas of assessment.

He singled out the car’s armoury of safety features for special praise, saying almost every safety technology on ANCAP’s checklist was standard equipment on Genesis.

“Importantly, autonomous emergency braking is one of these standard features – one that has recently been left off many new models hitting our shores," he said.

Among the safety technologies standard on Genesis are active-lift bonnet, adaptive cruise control, adaptive headlights, autonomous braking, emergency stop signal, lane support systems, re-crash safety system, reversing collision avoidance and tyre pressure monitoring.

Hyundai Motor Company Australia chief executive officer Charlie Kim said the record ANCAP score spoke volumes for the flagship car’s structural integrity, safety features and technologies.

“Every car Hyundai sells in Australia has achieved the maximum five-star ANCAP safety rating, other than the iLoad van and iMax people-mover (that are) rated at four stars,” he said.

“Of course, we are very proud of that fact, and Genesis must uphold this high standard.” According to a breakdown of the ANCAP results, one of the few shortcomings of Genesis safety was driver chest protection, which was rated “acceptable” rather than good.

Apart from that, the car made a clean sweep of “good” ratings on other measurements in the frontal offset crash test, side impact and pole tests, and whiplash tests.

In the separate pedestrian protection test, the Genesis did not rate so well, being judged “acceptable”, scoring 22.7 points out of 36.

ANCAP said the pop-up bonnet provided good results for the pedestrian’s head, but the leading edge of the bonnet was rated poor.

Mr McIntosh said consumers had been encouraged to seek features such as ABS and ESC in their cars, but many more such safety assist technologies (SATs) were coming on the market.

“Active safety systems are the future of vehicle safety,” he said. “ANCAP is encouraging consumers to learn more about the benefits of these safety systems and ask for them when they buy their next car.”