SUVs land top safety ratings
Kia’s Sportage has become the latest medium-sized SUV to secure a five-star safety rating from Ancap, with the model achieving “solid scores” for its protection of adult and child occupants.
The top rating for the GWM Haval H6 in New Zealand and Australian markets has also been extended to cover H6 hybrid variants following the latest safety tests.
Ancap says the Kia Sportage scored 87 per cent in the adult occupant protection and child occupant protection areas of assessment.
Physical crash testing also revealed a relatively low injury risk to occupants of oncoming vehicles in a collision, with a moderate 1.37-point deduction applied for vehicle compatibility in the frontal offset test.
The vehicle’s centre airbag provides protection against lateral movement of the driver, and prevented occupant-to-occupant interaction in the side-impact test.
Ancap notes that in the full-width frontal test and oblique pole test, marginal levels of protection were observed for the chest of the driver.
It adds the Sportage performed well in most tests of its autonomous emergency braking (AEB) system in forward-travel scenarios when interacting with pedestrians and cyclists.
However, mixed results were recorded when reacting to other vehicles, with poorer performance at test speeds above 60kph leading to an overall marginal assessment.
Carla Hoorweg, Ancap’s chief executive officer, says: “The new Kia Sportage has already proven to be a popular choice for fleets and families, and Kia is to be congratulated for achieving another five-star safety rating against Ancap’s 2020-2022 protocols,”
Hoorweg adds that two additional Ancap crash tests were performed on hybrid variants of the GWM Haval H6, with the levels of safety performance comparable to its petrol variants.
The soon-to-arrive Haval H6 GT was also assessed and the highest rating will also apply to this variant.
“The broadening of the five-star Ancap safety rating to H6 hybrid variants provides additional choice for those in the market for a safe vehicle with a hybrid drivetrain,” explains Hoorweg.
For full details of the Kia Sportage and GWM Haval H6 tests, click here.
