New Citroen C4 misses top safety score

The third-generation 2021 Citroen C4 crossover has been awarded a four-star safety rating by Australia’s independent crash testing authority.

In a statement today, the Australasian New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP) said the French crossover launched this month “fell short” in three of the four key areas of safety assessment during recent testing, thereby ruling it out of five-star contention.

Of particular concern, ANCAP said the Citroen C4 scored just 0.12 points out of 4.00 points under far-side impact protocols introduced in 2020.

It is thought the poor result in that test was due in part to the C4 having no centre airbag, which ANCAP described as a “notable limitation”.

In testing, the new Citroen C4 achieved scores of 76 per cent for adult occupant protection (AOP), 81 per cent for child occupant protection (COP), 57 per cent for vulnerable road user protection (VRUP) and 62 per cent for Safety Assist technology.

The report emphasised that child occupant protection was the only assessment area in which the C4 managed to reach five-star territory, with the thresholds for achieving “the market-expected five-star rating” missed in the other three categories.

ANCAP chief executive Carla Hoorweg called on Citroen to address the sub-par safety by implementing numerous equipment changes.

“The safety performance of the C4 suggests the same level of ambition shown by many of its competitors was not a focus for Citroen with this particular model,” she said.

“It is likely that with some small enhancements, Citroen could see the C4 elevated to five stars, and we would strongly encourage Citroen to consider introducing such improvements.”

In a statement, Citroen Australia told carsales: “As with all Citroen vehicles, the C4 focuses on providing safety, comfort and convenience.

“The single highly-specified C4 variant available in Australia comes as standard with 18 of the latest-generation driving technologies that help ensure a safe and convenient driving environment.”

Priced from $37,990 plus on-road costs, the 2021 Citroen C4 Shine is fitted with an Active Safety Brake autonomous emergency braking (AEB) system with day/night pedestrian, cyclist and vehicle detection at speeds between 30-80km/h.

However, there is no rear or junction AEB that forms part of ANCAP’s assessment.

Other standard safety equipment on the C4 includes forward collision warning, blind spot monitoring, active lane departure warning, adaptive cruise control with stop-and-go, driver attention alert, a speed limiter, ‘extended’ traffic sign recognition, six airbags and a reversing camera with top-down 360-degree view.