ANCAP: Five stars for new Toyota C-HR

TOYOTA’S new C-HR crossover has earned a five-star crash safety rating from the Australasian New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP) ahead of its release this week, scoring high marks for adult occupant protection levels and standard safety specification.

Originally tested by Euro NCAP, the score has been adjusted for Australian ratings although the C-HR tested was the hybrid variant, which is not yet available on Australian shores.

The C-HR scored 87 per cent, or 33.18 out of 38, in the adult occupant protection test, including 7.62 out of eight for the full width frontal test and 6.91 out of eight in the frontal offset test.

It lost points in the full width frontal test for ‘acceptable’ chest protection for the driver and occupant, and in the frontal offset test for acceptable protection of the driver’s chest and lower legs, and the right lower leg of the passenger.

The C-HR aced the side impact and pole tests, scoring eight out of eight in both, while the whiplash test returned a score of 2.65 out of three, still enough for a maximum ‘good’ rating.

It failed to register any points for city autonomous emergency braking (AEB), due to the AEB system in Australian models not functioning effectively at speeds below 20km/h.

Child occupant protection scored 38.03 out of 49, gaining a slightly better score for a six year-old child than a ten year old. It also gained extra points for child-friendly safety features and child seat installation points.

The C-HR came out of the pedestrian protection test with a score of 27.44 out of 42, or 65 per cent, enough for an ‘acceptable’ rating.

It scored poorly with protection in the A-pillars and top of the bumper, but well for the rest of the bumper and most of the bonnet.

It lost points due to the absence of vulnerable road user AEB, which is available on European variants.

Safety assistance systems scored 68 per cent, or 8.18 out of 12, losing due to the absence of any speed assistance system which meant a score of zero out of three.

Three out of three points were awarded for seat belt reminders, while interurban AEB and lane support systems were rated as 2.68 and 2.5 out of three, respectively.

Breaking down the C-HR’s autonomous braking performance, it scored 16.73 out of 18 for forward collision warning (FCW) when approaching a stationary vehicle, 11 out of 11 for both FCW and AEB when approaching a slow moving vehicle, 1.82 out of two for AEB and 1.8 out of two for FCW when approaching a braking vehicle with 12 metres of space, and perfect scores when the distance was increased to 40m.

AEB, lane support and pre-collision systems are standard on all C-HR variants, as are dual frontal, side chest, curtain airbags and a driver knee airbag.

ANCAP CEO James Goodwin said that a five-star rating is essential for any car-maker that wants to be competitive in the compact SUV segment.

“The C-HR is an example of an affordable model which meets high levels of safety in all areas of assessment,” he said.

“As a new entrant in the competitive Compact SUV segment, top safety credentials are a must if it is to win consumer sales, and it is encouraging to see key safety features provided as standard.

“It is disappointing though that the AEB system on C-HR models supplied to our market is not as advanced as the system fitted to European models where it can detect pedestrians.”