Holden Acadia gets five-star ANCAP safety rating

After undergoing crash-testing in Australia by the Australasian New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP), the seven-seat Holden Acadia large SUV has been awarded the highest safety rating possible: five stars.

It scored highest for adult occupant protection with 94 per cent, while child occupant protection and safety assist features rated well with 87 and 86 per cent scores respectively.

The Holden Acadia scored slightly lower in the vulnerable road user protection category, with 74 per cent.

The score applies to all model grades after ANCAP tested a number of entry-level front-wheel drive Holden Acadia LT variants, which were eventually destroyed after crash testing.

Standard safety equipment on all Acadia models includes autonomous emergency braking with vehicle, bicycle and pedestrian detection, lane-keep assist with lane departure warning, rear cross-traffic alert, side blind-zone alert, following distance indicator, automatic high-beam assist, safety seat alert, rear parking assist, reversing camera and seven airbags.

"The collision avoidance technologies fitted to the Acadia performed very well," said ANCAP chief executive, James Goodwin.

"Full points were scored in testing of its lane support systems, autonomously maintaining lane position within line markings as well as the unmarked road edge. The Acadia also intervened in overtaking scenarios, passing the more critical emergency lane keeping tests.

"These are impressive results and it is encouraging to see Holden offer such a strong safety performer in this competitive family SUV segment," he said.

Separately, ANCAP has now officially sanctioned the five-star safety rating of the new BMW X5 for the Australian market after it recorded a maximum Euro NCAP safety rating last week.

The new BMW X5 scored lower than the Holden Acadia for adult occupant protection (89%) and safety assist (71%), drew level on child occupant protection (87%) and edged ahead in the vulnerable road user protection (75%) category.

"Engineers noted concerns with the deployment of the knee airbag, and a penalty was applied against the test results of both the frontal offset and full width frontal tests," said Goodwin.

"Areas of the dash were also identified as a potential source of injury for the driver’s knees, and penalties were applied."

For the time being, the five-star ANCAP safety rating is limited to the 3.0-litre turbo-diesel variants as the independent vehicle safety authority waits for "further information from the brand".