The latest independent safety assessments from vehicle safety authority, ANCAP, have revealed two top performers with the Alfa Romeo Giulia and Stelvio equalling the highest scores recorded to date in the area of Adult Occupant Protection.

The Giulia mid-sized sedan recorded a score of 98 per cent, closely followed by the brand's medium SUV offering, the Stelvio, scoring 97 per cent.(1)

Both Alfa Romeo models achieved a 5 star ANCAP safety rating with good performance across all four key areas of assessment. This rating applies to all 2.0 litre petrol and 2.2 litre diesel Giulia and Stelvio variants.

"These are impressive scores which reflect the effort the brand has put into designing vehicles to keep occupants safe," said ANCAP Chief Executive, James Goodwin.

"With Adult Occupant Protection we look at how a vehicle performs structurally across a range of destructive crash tests, but also how well the restraint systems work to minimise injury. Low speed autonomous emergency braking also forms part of this, with both Alfa Romeo models performing well."

The Citroen C3, which was subject to the same broad range of tests, fell just shy of today's safety expectation due to its inability to actively detect and prevent pedestrian contact combined with head injury risk.

"Unfortunately the C3 falls down in the Pedestrian Protection aspects of our assessment," Mr Goodwin said.

"We may not all be drivers, but we are all pedestrians so it is important the design and specification of a vehicle considers the safety of those inside as well as outside the vehicle."

The Citroen C3 scored 59 per cent for Pedestrian Protection, limiting its overall ANCAP safety rating to 4 stars.

(1) These scores equal those achieved by the Volvo XC60 (98%) and Volvo XC90 (97%).