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The Australasian New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP) has published its latest round of safety scores and the two vehicles included are re-tested versions of popular hatchbacks based on testing conducted by Euro NCAP.

The two safety authorities have harmonised testing protocols.

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However, a production change that went into effect on vehicles built from May 2025 now sees the MG3 have a four-star ANCAP safety rating, still based on the current 2023-2025 testing protocols.

The Chinese hatchback now gets a centre airbag between the front-row occupants, bringing the total airbag count to seven. There’s now also a driver monitoring system, as well as “improved collision avoidance capability”.

An MG Motor Australia spokesperson confirmed this specification change came with the latest MY25.5 update. No other specification changes have been made.

ANCAP did note, however, during the frontal offset crash test the right-side adjuster for the driver’s seat failed, causing it to twist. This movement caused more force to go through the driver dummy’s right leg, hence the ‘Poor’ rating for protection of that particular part of the body.

The driver dummy’s head also bottomed out on the steering wheel-mounted airbag and head protection was scored as ‘Adequate’.

“This uplift from three-stars to four-stars is a step in the right direction, yet the seat latch failure is not something we expect to see, and is cause for caution,” said ANCAP CEO Carla Hoorweg.

“It is clear that MG is trying hard to bring improved products to market. What we want to see, however, is a focus on quality as well as safety. These elements go hand-in-hand.

“The failure of the seat adjuster increased the risk of injury to the driver. Key vehicle components like this should be able to withstand this typical urban-environment crash.

“We expect MG to make a running change to rectify the fault, and move to retrospectively fix affected vehicles already in the market.”

The other hatchback to receive a revised ANCAP safety rating is the current Suzuki Swift.

It arrived in 2024 in new-generation guise and received a one-star ANCAP rating as it was found the Australian-specification Swift differed from the European-specification version.

Compared to Euro NCAP testing, ANCAP noted leg injury risk due to excessive pedal movement and higher chest loads for the driver in the frontal offset test, as well as a “significantly greater” rear passenger chest compression measurement.

However, Australian-specification Swift models built from August 2025 and sold from September 2025 onwards now have additional front-end reinforcement to align it with the European-specification model.

As a result all Swift models built from this point onwards now have a three-star ANCAP safety rating.

Suzuki hasn't detailed any further changes to the Swift's specifications.

“ANCAP’s role as consumer advocate is to hold manufacturers to account, and where safety deficiencies are seen, to push for improvements that help prevent deaths and reduce serious injuries,” said Hoorweg.

“Suzuki and MG have taken steps in the right direction.”