Hyundai i30 sedan safety unrated

The Hyundai i30 sedan will be a rare mainstream production car on sale in Australia without a crash safety rating from the Australasian New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP).

Formerly known as the Hyundai Elantra, the all-new Hyundai i30 sedan pricing and spec detail was announced this morning ahead of drive impressions to be published on Friday.

The new model as yet has no rating because Hyundai Australia isn’t backing the local ANCAP testing process with the hundreds of thousands of dollars in funding and multiple cars required to gain a result.

Brands often subsidise the independent ANCAP tests because better safety scores have been found to resonate with new car buyers.

ANCAP cannot source data from sister organisation Euro NCAP for the Hyundai i30 sedan to deliver a rating because it is not sold in Europe.

However, the i30 sedan may not stay unrated, as ANCAP is considering funding safety tests itself. This is not an uncommon process, as brands do not always support testing of their new models.

Because it is not fitted with a centre airbag, the i30 sedan would not be able to achieve the maximum five-star rating under the current ANCAP protocols upgraded for 2020.

It is understood Hyundai’s position is that the i30 sedan would achieve a four-star ANCAP rating if it was tested.

It does feature a long list of passive and active standard safety equipment including camera and radar-based autonomous emergency braking (AEB) with pedestrian and cyclist detection.

Models unrated by ANCAP are not a rarity in Australian new car dealerships, but they tend to be either niche and/or expensive models.

For instance, the Hyundai Veloster coupe is not rated.

Hyundai Australia’s decision to sell the i30 sedan without an ANCAP rating is another small signal of concern about the independent crash authority among car companies.

Steadily escalating standards have undoubtedly improved safety equipment and performance, but they have also contributed to a startling rise in costs in recent years for popular mainstream models such as the Toyota Corolla and Yaris and Mazda3.

Former Hyundai Australia COO Scott Grant was one of the few industry heavyweights to break ranks when he voiced his concerns to carsales in November 2018, warning the company may stop chasing five-star results.

Since then it has launched the entry-level Venue in 2019 with a four-star result because it lacked the sensor tech to qualify for the full five stars.

Hyundai has resisted requests to comment on the implications of launching the i30 sedan unrated.

It will be interesting to see whether this is a pivotal moment or an isolated incident in the history of ANCAP reporting by manufacturers.

Back in the 1990s and the early 2000s when NCAP first appeared on the scene there was a ‘gentlemen’s agreement’ among industry members not to promote scores.

That was broken by Renault in 2002 to promote Laguna II, which was the first car to achieve a five-star Euro NCAP score.

Since then ANCAP scores have become a standard part of the promotion of new vehicles by car companies.

A maximum five-star rating is also now frequently cited by fleet purchasers as the minimum standard required.