The latest independent safety assessments from vehicle safety authority, ANCAP, have demonstrated the ongoing commitment from vehicle brands to maintain 5 star standards against increasing criteria.

The Mazda CX-8 and Volvo XC40 have both achieved a 5 star ANCAP safety rating – the first models to be tested and rated by ANCAP to the latest, most stringent 2018 assessment protocols.

"The hurdles have been raised significantly for vehicles tested from 2018," said ANCAP Chief Executive, Mr James Goodwin.

"We now test and rate against four key pillars of assessment, and across these we have implemented a range of enhancements to encourage vehicle manufacturers to improve the active and passive safety elements of their models."
"Most notably, we're looking at the performance and effectiveness of active safety assist technologies, and the ability of a vehicle to protect a broader range of occupants, including children and females."

"Parents of young children will know that not all vehicles have the ability to safely fit child restraints in all seating positions. To assist, child restraint installation now forms part of each rating."

"We are assessing the correct installation of a range of commonly available restraints – from newborn to 10 years – in each of the rear seating positions, and 6 year and 10 year child dummies now feature in our physical crash tests."

Vulnerable road user safety is also enhanced with added emphasis placed on avoiding crashes with pedestrians and cyclists, at day-time and night – over 100 different test scenarios.

"It's encouraging to see Mazda and Volvo set the standard, with their CX-8 and XC40 models being the first to step up and achieve 5 stars against our increased test standards," Mr Goodwin said.

"Good levels of performance were achieved by the CX-8 in the area of Child Occupant Protection, with our assessment engineers praising its ability to safely accommodate child restraints in all five rear seating
positions."

The 5 star ANCAP safety rating applies to all Mazda CX-8 variants.

"The XC40 performed well across all areas of assessment, offering emergency lane keeping functionality and the full range of autonomous emergency braking systems," said Mr Goodwin.

All-wheel-drive variants of the Volvo XC40 have achieved a 5 star ANCAP safety rating. The two-wheel-drive T4 has not been assessed and is 'unrated'.