Five-star ANCAP without hitting the wall!

The latest safety assessment results released by the Australasian New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP) have confirmed maximum five-star results for a trio of recent arrivals - the Kia Carnival, Mercedes-Benz E-Class and Skoda Superb.

And the Skoda has its corporate cousin, the Volkswagen Passat to thank for its performance, as ANCAP’s European affiliate Euro NCAP based the Superb’s result on its closely-related VW relative.

And it turns out the practice is far from unprecedented, an ANCAP spokesperson telling CarsGuide, “The determination and publication of ratings for corporate twins is common and has been an approach used by ANCAP and Euro NCAP for decades.

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Recent examples include the Ford Ranger / VW Amarok, Isuzu D-Max / Mazda BT-50 and Subaru Solterra / Toyota BZ4X.

According to ANCAP, “It allows us to determine the safety performance without unnecessarily destroying another five vehicles. 

“Our published protocols outline the requirements for the testing and rating of corporate twins, and one of these requirements is that the manufacturer of the brand requesting to utilise the corporate twin results must request this at the time the original model is tested.

“The manufacturer – in this case Skoda – had to provide us with detailed technical evidence showing comparable performance across variants – including differences in mass, drivetrain, wheelbase, and body style. Skoda provided that evidence and the Superb fully met the requirements,” they said.

Although the VW Passat sedan (and wagon) was withdrawn from local sale in late 2023 it continues to be offered in other markets and scored its five-star Euro NCAP result in 2024.

The Passat, and therefore the Superb, performed particularly well in terms of protection of key body regions in the frontal offset head-on crash test, side impact test and oblique pole test, resulting in a “close-to-record high” Adult Occupant Protection score of 93 per cent.

It also scored 80 per cent or higher in ANCAP’s three other assessment pillars - Child Occupant Protection, Vulnerable Road Users and Safety Assist.

The Mercedes-Benz E-Class sedan (E200 and E300) was singled out for high performance in terms of driver protection in the ‘T-bone’ side impact crash test and the oblique pole test. And it scored full points for the driver in the full-width frontal test.

Then the Kia Carnival recorded a five-star rating back in 2021 for petrol and diesel grades but it now covers those powertrains plus the recently introduced hybrid variants.

According to ANCAP, “Differences in the powertrain and mass of the hybrid required fresh frontal offset and oblique pole crash tests to be undertaken.

“These additional tests are needed to substantiate ‘worst-case’ crash performance and examine whether any electrical safety concerns arise as a result of crash impact.”