Popular family cars hit with four star safety rating: 2025 Honda CR-V and Honda ZR-V called out by ANCAP in a blow for the Toyota RAV4 Hybrid and Corolla Cross Hybrid rivals

Honda Australia has been called out for leaving vital safety gear off Australian vehicles.

The Australasian New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP) has confirmed the Honda ZR-V and CR-V hold less-sophisticated safety specifications than those sold in Europe. The CR-V misses out on the five-star rating given to European models by Euro NCAP, while the ZR-V carries over the four-star European safety rating in Australia.

In 2018 ANCAP and Euro NCAP took steps to align their testing and rating criteria to make it easier for manufacturers to sell their vehicles in both Europe and Australia, but ANCAP’s Chief Executive Officer Carla Hoorweg, said it was clear some manufacturers were prioritising more lucrative markets.

“What we’re seeing here are manufacturers consciously providing Australian and New Zealand consumers with products that do not match the same levels of safety provided to European consumers, and no doubt consumers will be surprised to learn of these differences,” she said

“We are seeing some manufacturers prioritise higher levels of safety only in markets where the regulation requires it – while others are offering different safety specifications based on the expectations of dominant sales markets, production locations, or markets with less mature consumer expectations.”

According to ANCAP, the CR-V has a less sophisticated suite of active collision avoidance (ADAS) features – Honda Sensing rather than the elevated Honda 360 Sensing system deployed in Europe – putting the CR-V’s safety rating below the five-star threshold of 68 per cent.

In Europe, the Honda 360 Sensing system is sold as an optional extra as a part of a ‘safety pack’, which sees the higher-spec variants achieve a five-star NCAP rating, while vehicles sold without a safety pack receive a four-star rating.

Honda’s 360 Sensing system provides 360 degree blindspot monitoring through radar and sensors, allowing the vehicle to assess and mitigate the risk of a potential accident. If a collision appears imminent, it can activate audio and visual warnings as well as braking and steering assistance to help the driver avoid a collision.

This safety tech isn’t offered in Australia, not even as an option.

The CR-V still comes with a fair chunk of safety tech including auto emergency braking, lane keep assist and 11 airbags. All but the cheapest version also have blind spot monitoring and rear cross traffic alert.

The smaller ZR-V, is structurally different in Australia than those sold on the European market.

A different front bumper beam is fitted to Australian vehicles, which ANCAP says affected test performance in some impact locations.

European vehicles are also built with an additional beam in the rear doors, which is omitted from Australian sold vehicles. ANCAP said no observable effect on test performance was identified, Honda is yet to provide information as to why the additional beam has been excluded.

In accordance with ANCAP’s safety rating system, ratings are updated every three years to allow for the latest safety features and technologies into new vehicles.

Honda has sold 4047 CR-Vs in Australia in the past 12 months and 3062 ZR-Vs.