Five-star safety for BMW 5 Series, Kia EV9 and Mercedes-Benz EQE SUV

ANCAP has awarded another trio of maximum five-star safety ratings against its new 2023-2025 protocols, with the latest recipients being the Mercedes-Benz EQE SUV, Kia EV9 and BMW 5 Series.

Far from the first EV to be tested against the new protocols, the large German electric SUV earned scores of 87, 92, 80 and 86 per cent for its adult occupant protection, child occupant protection, vulnerable road user protection and safety assist performance respectively.

The battery-electric GLE cousin yielded maximum points for its driver protection in the side impact test, for the front passenger in the frontal offset test and its child protection for both tests.

“A centre airbag to protect front seat occupants in side impact crashes is fitted, however evidence to demonstrate that the airbag would protect a range of occupant sizes was not provided by the manufacturer and points for this area of assessment were not awarded,” ANCAP testers noted.

‘Good’ performances were noted across the board for the big Merc’s safety systems.

While still being awarded a maximum five-star rating, the box-fresh Kia EV9 didn’t quite reach the same heights as the Mercedes with respective category scores of 84, 87, 76 and 85.

Special mention went to the large seven-seat Korean electric SUV’s car-to-car autonomous emergency braking, lane keep assist and driver monitoring systems.

“In destructive crash tests, the Kia EV9 offered a mix of ‘good’ and ‘adequate’ performance for its protection of adult and child occupants,” testers said.

“‘Marginal’ protection was recorded for the driver’s chest in the oblique pole test, and the rear passenger’s chest in the full-width test.”

The new BMW 5 Series – including the battery-electric i5 variants –tied with the EV9 as the most consistent of the three models, but netted a higher average score thanks to its healthy 89 (adult), 87 (child), 86 (road user) and 81 (assists) per cent category scores.

Strong performances by the new-generation large German luxury sedan were noted across all the physical crash tests, with special mention going to its vulnerable road user protection.

“An indirect driver monitoring system is fitted as standard to the 5 Series, and information was also provided to demonstrate that, should the 5 Series become submerged in water, all windows and doors would remain functional for a minimum of two minutes once battery power had been lost,” testers said.

Six new models – Lexus RZ, BYD Dolphin and BYD Seal, plus these three – have now been assessed against ANCAP’s latest 2023-2025 testing criteria, all of which have netted five-star ratings.

Another five-star rating issued recently was for the Renault Megane E-Tech, however, it should be noted the mid-size French electric SUV was tested against ANCAP’s more lenient 2022 protocols, scoring 85 for its adult and child occupant protection, 65 for its vulnerable road user protection and 80 for its safety assists.

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