Oops . . . two cars flunk crash tests!

0 0 January 03, 2024 Edit this post

Australia’s independent car safety authority ANCAP has warned car buyers to check ratings after two brand new cars failed to score any stars for safety in crash tests.

The cars in question are the Chinese MG5 sedan and Indian Mahindra Scorpio SUV.

Both models were unable to achieve even one star for safety in terms of physical or active collision protection.

In many areas, ANCAP says this was due to the fundamental omission of safety features that have been commonplace in new cars for many years.

“Both brands have misjudged the safety expectations of today’s consumers,” ANCAP's Carla Hoorweg said.

MG5 recorded significant injury risk measurements for the chest (Poor) and legs (Poor) of the driver in the frontal offset test, and the chest (Poor) and legs (Poor) of the rear passenger in the full width frontal test.

Penalties were applied for chest deflection and seatbelt loading exceeding injury limits, and hazards behind the dashboard structure.

Loading on the head and neck of the child dummies in the MG5 was significantly higher than seen in most current generation vehicles, with Weak results seen for three of the four dummies across both the frontal and side impact tests, indicating a lack of design effort to prevent rear-seat occupant injury in frontal impact and side impact scenarios.

Seatbelt pre-tensioners and load limiters are not fitted to front or rear seating positions on the base Vibe variant, nor the rear seating positions on the Essence variant.

A centre airbag to prevent injury in side impact crashes is not offered, lane support or blind spot monitoring functionality is not offered in any form, autonomous emergency braking performance was limited or not available and contemporary aids to monitor driver alertness and the presence of children inadvertently left in the vehicle are not offered.

The MG 5 scored:	The Mahindra Scorpio scored:
37% Adult Occupant Protection	44% Adult Occupant Protection
58% Child Occupant Protection	80% Child Occupant Protection
42% Vulnerable Road User Protection	23% Vulnerable Road User Protection
13% Safety Assist	0% Safety Assist

The Mahindra Scorpio was shown to provide a mix of Good, Acceptable, Marginal, Weak and Poor protection for adult occupants in the frontal offset, full width frontal, side impact and oblique pole crash tests.

A high risk of serious injury was recorded for the head, neck and chest of the rear female passenger in the full width frontal test with a penalty applied for high seatbelt loading.

In the side impact test, the driver’s seatbelt was observed to unlatch (tongue detached from buckle) during deployment of the seatbelt pre-tensioner immediately prior to impact.

While having no impact on the test score, ANCAP has reported this to the manufacturer for further examination.

Mahindra Scorpio is a three-row vehicle with side curtain airbags fitted for first and second rows only.

Top tether child restraint anchorages are not fitted in the third row and this vehicle is therefore not suitable for transporting young children in these seating positions.

A centre airbag between the two front seat occupants is not available.

The Scorpio is offered as a six-seat vehicle in Australia. In New Zealand, a seven-seat variant is also sold.

The seven-seat NZ variant provides a lap-only seatbelt in the centre seating position of the second row.

ANCAP says lap-only belts have not been commonplace in new vehicles for more than a decade.

Scorpio is not equipped with any form of active collision avoidance features and scored 0 per cent for the Safety Assist area of assessment.

“The MG 5 and Mahindra Scorpio were both released into the Australian and New Zealand new car markets for the first time this year, yet it’s clear that their safety offerings are some generations behind what we see with almost every new car on sale today," Hoorweg said.

“This is a stark reminder that not all cars offer the same level of safety – even when they’re brand new models.

“Market competition is healthy and encouraged, however there is also a well-established expectation from Australian and New Zealand private consumers and fleet buyers that new cars entering our market offer the best levels of safety.

“With our independent test results now to hand, we hope to see significant improvements made to these models to have them more closely align with the safety credentials offered by their competitors,” she said.