Five safety stars for new Impreza, E-Class and 500X

Subaru's new Impreza has scored a maximum five-star safety rating from the Australasian New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP) ahead of its Australian release next week.

The same top crash test rating was also awarded to Mercedes-Benz's newly released E-Class and the Fiat 500X, which has been on sale Down Under for a year.

“The release of these ratings sees a diverse spread of models meet the highest safety standards,” said ANCAP CEO James Goodwin.

“The small car and compact SUV categories are highly competitive and the Impreza and 500X carry the 2016 datestamp providing consumers with a leading choice in their respective categories,” he said.

Despite the top rating, ANCAP took a swipe at both small cars for lacking potentially life-saving autonomous emergency braking (AEB) and lane support systems (LSS) in entry-level models.

“It’s disappointing these technologies have not been provided as standard across their respective model ranges and for the safety of all road users we want to see an increase in the fitting of this technology,” said Goodwin.

“The E-Class has been awarded a 2016 datestamp and provides a long list of standard safety features and technologies including all three grades of autonomous emergency braking, an active bonnet for increased pedestrian protection and pre-crash systems which prepare for an impact in order to minimise occupant injury.”

The Impreza and E-Class both achieved ‘Good’ ratings for pedestrian protection with the 500X falling just shy of the top rating.

“This caps off a remarkable year for pedestrian protection with almost all vehicles rated in 2016 achieving either ‘Acceptable’ or ‘Good’ ratings,” said Goodwin.

The five-star rating applies to all versions of the E-Class and upcoming Impreza, but only to 500X vehicles built from July 2016.