ANCAP SAFETY, Australasia's independent vehicle safety authority, has announced its first 5 star rating for Korean brand, SsangYong, with the new Korando mid-size SUV meeting ANCAP's most stringent criteria.
The Volvo S60 and V60, and the BMW 3 Series also achieved 5 stars.
The SsangYong Korando provides high levels of adult and child occupant protection and collision avoidance capabilities, with autonomous emergency braking (AEB) and active lane keep assistance fitted as standard across all Australian and New Zealand variants.
"This is a positive step up from SsangYong, and both the brand and their Australasian representatives should be proud of their efforts in supplying their first 5 star vehicle to our market," said ANCAP Chief Technical Officer, Mark Terrell.
"5 stars is not only possible, it is the expected standard, and the entry of this model provides fleet and private consumers with an additional choice in the popular and competitive Medium SUV segment," Mr Terrell said.
The Volvo S60 sedan and Volvo V60 estate (wagon) introduced from August 2019 scored maximum points for the protection of child occupants in the two destructive crash tests which feature 6 year and 10 year child dummies.
"The frontal offset and side impact tests represent the crash types where we see the greatest number of fatalities, and these models performed well with full points achieved for critical body regions. The width of the rear seating row does however limit the safe installation of some child restraints in the centre seating position."
The BMW 3 Series which entered the market earlier this year continues the safety form expected from the brand, with a score of 97% achieved for Adult Occupant Protection and strong scores across the three other key areas of assessment, including Vulnerable Road User Protection.
"The 3 Series is equipped with a full range of driver assistance technologies and performed well in tests of its ability to detect vulnerable road users, either avoiding or mitigating collisions with pedestrians and cyclists across a range of scenarios," Mr Terrell said.
5 star ANCAP safety ratings apply to all variants of the SsangYong Korando, 2.0 litre variants of the BMW 3 Series and T5 variants of the Volvo S60 and V60. The BMW M340i and T8 variants of the Volvo S60 and V60 are unrated.