The final safety rating for 2022 has today been published by independent vehicle safety authority, ANCAP, with the new GWM Tank 300 ending the year on a high with five stars.

Hybrid variants of the GWM Tank 300 - which went on sale in Australia this month - have achieved a five star ANCAP safety rating. Full points were recorded for all four critical body regions of both the driver and front seat passenger in the frontal offset test. This high score was however offset by the maximum 4.00 point penalty for vehicle-to-vehicle compatibility as the front structure of the Tank 300 was shown to pose a high risk to the occupants of an oncoming vehicle, if struck.(1)

Similar high scores were seen for the Tank 300's ability to protect the driver and front seat occupants in the range of side impact crash test scenarios.

Whiplash protection for front and rear seat passengers was Good, as was protection offered to both the 10 year and 6 year child dummies when seated in appropriate child restraints in the second row, with maximum points scored for the protection of child occupants in tested scenarios.

In the full width frontal test, designed to assess the effectiveness of frontal airbags and seatbelt restraints, the level of protection offered to all critical body regions of the driver was Good. In contrast, Weak performance was recorded for the head and chest of the rear seat passenger – an area where improvements to the restraint system could deliver improved performance for rear seat occupants.

The Tank 300 demonstrated mostly Good levels of safety performance across the Safety Assist assessment pillar, with an advanced direct driver monitoring system fitted as standard to hybrid variants. Direct driver monitoring becomes a requirement for five-stars under the forthcoming 2023-2025 ANCAP rating criteria.

"This safety rating for the Tank 300 rounds out our testing for the year, and adds another five-star performer into the GWM stable and importantly, the Australia new vehicle fleet," said ANCAP Chief Executive Officer, Carla Hoorweg.

"2023 will see a number of new and updated aspects introduced into our test and rating regime – further enhancing the safety of new cars offered to Australian and New Zealand consumers," said Ms Hoorweg.

(1) For vehicles rated from 2023, the maximum compatibility penalty will increase from 4.00 points to a maximum of 8.00 points to encourage further improvements in vehicle design to address fatalities and serious injuries for occupants travelling in 'opponent' vehicles