Mercedes-Benz GLC and Jaguar XE praised for pedestrian safety

The Australasian New Car Assessment Programme (ANCAP) has announced five-star safety ratings for the Mercedes-Benz GLC and the Jaguar XE – and has commended the two cars for their pedestrian safety.

Both the Mercedes and the Jaguar were selected by Euro NCAP as the outstanding cars in their respective categories tested for crash safety in 2015.

Based on the testing done by its European partner and the data supplied, ANCAP extrapolated a five-star rating for each vehicle, using its own criteria to arrive at the result for Australian consumers. Although the announcement has been made in January, the results for both vehicles are based on testing criteria that applied last year and as a consequence, the GLC and the XE have been 'date stamped' 2015, rather than 2016.

"These vehicles further demonstrate we are entering a new era of vehicle safety where the standard inclusion of safety assist technologies such as Autonomous Emergency Braking [AEB] will help to eliminate or reduce the severity of a crash," ANCAP CEO James Goodwin was quoted saying in a press release.

"With a concerning 7.9 per cent increase in pedestrian fatalities across Australia in 2015 there needs to be a strong focus on vehicle technology to help contribute to reducing this figure," he said.

"Both models achieved the highest pedestrian protection rating of 'good' and use technologies such as active bonnets to help reduce injuries to pedestrians."