Ute scores five stars for safety

The Mazda BT-50 has been awarded a five-star safety rating from ANCAP but it lost points for pedestrian protection when compared to an almost identical ute.

Australasia’s vehicle safety organisation announced the rating for all variants of the BT-50 utility following assessment against the latest 2020 test criteria. 

The result follows the five-star rating achieved by the vehicle’s shared platform, the Isuzu D-Max, in September.

Rhianne Robson, director communications and advocacy at ANCAP, says the Mazda model provides a “comprehensive safety offering to both fleet and private buyers”.

It scored maximum points for protection of adult occupants in the side impact and oblique pole tests. Full marks were also awarded to the protection of child occupants in the frontal offset and side impact tests.

The BT-50 was designed and developed in conjunction with Isuzu and it shares common structures, drivetrains, passive and active safety features and restraints beneath unique body panels as the D-Max.

However, Mazda’s offering has a different front bumper and fascia styling and required supplementary testing to “determine any differences in pedestrian protection performance”. 

Those tests revealed a slight increase in potential injury risk, with the BT-50 achieving 67 per cent in the vulnerable road user protection category compared to 69 per cent for the D-Max. In all other aspects, the utes received identical safety scores.

New safety features introduced to the Mazda BT-50 include a centre airbag and autonomous emergency braking (AEB) junction assist to help avoid a secondary impact.

“This top rating underscores the importance placed on safety by Mazda, with all models in its range carrying a five-star ANCAP safety rating,” explains Robson.

“It is reassuring to see the safety of Mazda customers and other road users being prioritised regardless of market segment.”