Models set safety test records

The fully electric Hyundai Ioniq 6 and the Lexus RX have been hailed as “top performers” after becoming the latest models to score five-star safety ratings from ANCAP. 

Hyundai’s battery electric vehicle equalled the record of 97 per cent in the adult occupant protection area of assessment. It now shares the best score with the Tesla Model Y rated last year.

ANCAP says the top score for the Ioniq 6 comes as a result of very good performance for vehicle-to-vehicle crash compatibility combined with low levels of injury risk across each of the destructive crash tests performed.

Carla Hoorweg, chief executive, adds: “As electric vehicles don’t have large engine components under the bonnet, they have the potential to pose less risk to vehicle occupants in a frontal crash scenario, compared to petrol and diesel cars. We have seen that play out in testing of the Ioniq 6 – with only a very slight penalty applied for potential injury risk to adult occupants.”
 
The Ioniq 6 also performed well for its protection of children, with full points scored for the six-year and 10-year child dummies in the frontal offset and side-impact tests.

Its autonomous emergency braking system (AEB), which is capable of detecting and responding to other vehicles, pedestrians and cyclists, was also “very good” in testing. 

An AEB backover system which intervenes while reversing is fitted as standard on New Zealand and Australian-supplied models, however, it was not fitted to the European test vehicle and therefore not scored in ANCAP’s assessment.

Another vehicle to impress assessors was the Lexus RX, with its petrol and hybrid variants setting a new record of 89 per cent for its protection of pedestrians and cyclists in the vulnerable road user protection area of assessment. 

ANCAP notes a safety assist score of 93 per cent was also recorded for the RX’s collision avoidance capability.

“The Lexus RX is another of our top performers – achieving high scores across all key areas of assessment resulting in a five-star ANCAP safety rating,” notes Hoorweg.

The car has a range of airbags including a driver’s knee-protecting airbag and a centre airbag designed to minimise injury risk should contact between the two front seat occupants occur during a crash. 

The centre airbag demonstrated effective performance in preventing serious head contact in set test scenarios, however a penalty was applied as technical evidence to demonstrate effective performance across a range of different seating positions was not supplied.

For full details on the safety performance of the Hyundai Ioniq 6, click here, and for the Lexus RX, click here.