Infiniti Q30 rated five stars by ANCAP

Infiniti's new Q30 hatch has been granted a five-star rating by the Australasian New Car Assessment Programme (ANCAP), after extrapolation of data from derived from European crash tests.

The Q30 is built on the same platform as the Mercedes-Benz Mercedes-Benz MFA platform that also underpins the A-Class, B-Class and GLA models built and marketed by Stuttgart. But Infiniti's model has exclusive suspension units.

The crash test results were cause for celebration, according to ANCAP CEO James Goodwin.

"This model performed well across the range of demanding physical crash tests," Goodwin was quoted saying in press release.

"The human body can only withstand certain amounts of force in a crash, so it is vital that the bulk of crash forces are absorbed by the vehicle rather than its occupants."

ANCAP commended the Q30 for its standard autonomous emergency braking (AEB) and 'good' pedestrian protection, with a 91 per cent result there. But whiplash protection was judged 'marginal' and 'poor' for front and rear-seat occupants.

Over the last couple of years ANCAP has been strongly lobbying the car companies to offer vehicles with AEB as standard, mounting the old argument that 'an ounce of prevention (AEB) is worth a pound of cure (structural deformation and passenger restraints)'.

"Physical crash performance is important, but avoiding a crash is what we're aiming for. It's pleasing to see Infiniti provide AEB standard for the Australian market," he said.

"The list of standard safety assist technologies for this premium brand is however shorter than expected with blind spot monitoring (BMS), adaptive cruise control (ACC), and lane support systems (LSS) offered only on higher-specified variants," Mr Goodwin said.
Crash test summary
Adult Occupant Protection: 84 %
Adult Occupant Protection: 32.1 out of 38
Full Width: 7.65 out of 8
Frontal Offset: 7.99 out of 8
Side Impact: 8.00 out of 8
Pole: 7.01 out of 8
Whiplash Protection: 1.47 out of 3
AEB (City): 0.00 out of 3
Child Occupant Protection: 86 %
Child Occupant Protection: 42.2 out of 49
Safety Assist: 74 %
Safety Assist: 9.7 out of 13
Speed Assistance System: 1.3 out of 3
ESC: 3.0 out of 3
Seat Belt Reminders: 3.0 out of 3
Lane Support System: 0.0 out of 1
AEB (Interurban): 2.3 out of 3
Pedestrian Protection: 91 %
Pedestrian Protection: 33.0 out of 36