ANCAP Tests Four New Models, NZ-spec Hyundai i20 Rated Four Stars

The Australasian New Car Assessment Program highlights that the biggest letdown of the i20 is the side impact test, a scenario that saw the curtain airbag catch in the trim, thus not fully deploying as intended. Due to this, ANCAP penalize the head scores for both the side impact and pole tests.

There’s more bad news regarding the i20, though. ANCAP CEO James Goodwin mentions that the South Korean model “fell down in the areas of Child Occupant Protection and Safety Assist with important active safety technologies such as autonomous emergency braking, adaptive cruise control, and blind spot monitoring not available.” Bearing in mind even the Volkswagen up! knows how to brake automatically, Hyundai should definitely look into this situation by the time the i20 facelift goes on sale.

The latest round of ANCAP tests also sees the Hyundai Ioniq, Audi A5, and Volvo S90 crashed to find out how safe they are, and wouldn’t you know, all of them are five-star vehicles. While it’s undoubtedly safe, the S90 sold in this part of the world differs from the European model due to the lack of a driver knee airbag. The second-generation A5 also strikes a discordant note, with the New Zealand customer getting lane support assist and adaptive cruise control and as standard, whereas Australians get them as extras.

“Autonomous emergency braking, adaptive cruise control and reversing collision avoidance are however standard on all variants of the new hybrid model introduced by Hyundai – the Ioniq,” added Mr. Goodwin. The Ioniq is on sale in New Zealand from NZD 46,990, and the Electric costs NZD 59,990.