The 2024 Toyota Prado off-roader and 2024 Kia EV5 electric SUV have both been awarded a five-star safety rating by the Australasian New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP).
Perhaps the most eagerly awaited vehicle of the year, the 250 Series Prado garnered scores of 85 per cent for its adult occupant protection, 89 per cent for child occupant protection, 84 per cent for vulnerable road user protection and 82 per cent for its safety assists.
There were only a few blemishes on the new Toyota’s scorecard, primarily a ‘marginal’ performance for the protection of the driver’s chest and ‘adequate’ lower leg protection in the frontal offset head-on crash test
It was a similar story for the EV5 which nabbed respective category results of 88, 86, 74 and 82, with special praise going to its vehicle-to-vehicle compatibility.
Penalties were applied in two of the destructive crash tests however.
According to testers, a small opening was detected in the footwell seam following the frontal offset test, not to mention potential for hard knee contact for front seat occupants.
A reduced level of head-to-head contact protection between front seat occupants was also noted in the oblique pole test.
Things weren’t so crash hot for the 2024 Suzuki Swift which stumbled at almost every hurdle on its way to a shock one-star safety rating.
The new-generation light hatch yielding an adult occupant protection score of just 47 per cent, 59 per cent for child occupant protection, a decent 76 per cent for vulnerable road user protection and 54 per cent for its safety assists.
“Earlier this year ANCAP was informed of physical differences between locally-supplied Swift models and those supplied in Europe, so we conducted a range of additional crash tests on local vehicles and found some areas of concern,” ANCAP CEO Carla Hoorweg said.
“In comparison to the three-star rating achieved by Swift vehicles sold in Europe, vehicles sold in Australia and New Zealand performed differently when crash tested.”
Suzuki is yet to comment on the result, but a full breakdown of its scorecard as well as those of the Prado and EV5 can be found via the ANCAP website.