Aurion retains five-star ANCAP rating

Toyota's new Aurion, which is revealed to the press tomorrow, has already been tested by ANCAP for its crash-worthiness. The good news for Toyota and its prospective Aurion buyers is that the locally-designed car has achieved five stars once more.

ANCAP (Australasian New Car Assessment Program) tested the Toyota along with the Kia Rio, Suzuki Swift Sport, Jeep Compass and the Mahindra Pik Up in the latest round of crash testing. Of the five, the three passenger vehicles (Aurion, Rio and Swift) garnered five stars and the Mahindra achieved three. But it will doubtless be the four-star Compass that will be the hot topic around the water cooler.

The Jeep was previously tested by Euro NCAP and achieved just two stars, to the consternation of Chrysler-Jeep's management here. At the time it was felt by the importer that the compact SUV would shape up better in ANCAP testing, as indeed it now has. It's still not a five-star vehicle, but nor is it necessarily as unsafe as the Euro NCAP result suggested.

Director of Corporate Affairs for Chrysler Australia, Lenore Fletcher told motoring.com.au earlier today that the company's "internal testing had indicated the Compass would achieve four stars" in accordance with ANCAP's criteria. According to Ms Fletcher, the discrepancy was due to the "new criteria loaded into Euro NCAP" a few months ago, relating to pedestrian safety and the inclusion of seatbelt reminders.

"There are other crash testing programs as well," Ms Fletcher noted; "there's the Japanese one, there's the North American one, so I guess what would be great to come out of this would be one [standard] to be adopted all around the world — that would be a really good thing."

The Chrysler exec didn't expect that every car sold in Australia would or should undergo ANCAP testing in addition to Euro NCAP testing, she did concede she was concerned by "the confusion that came out of that result, for our consumers... Basically the vehicle's a four-star vehicle — but being told to the contrary is very confusing for them."

In its press release, ANCAP made no specific mention of the Jeep, other than to describe its occupant protection as "respectable". However, the Mahindra Pik Up didn't get away unscathed in the press release.

“The protection of vehicle occupants is ANCAP’s primary consideration and this is being achieved through a combination of stronger passenger compartments and the inclusion of active Safety Assist Technologies. Over 90 per cent of vehicles sold now have either a 4 or 5 star safety rating so it concerns me greatly to see the Mahindra still well below the standard consumers are demanding,” said ANCAP Chair, Lauchlan McIntosh.

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