New Ford Ranger and Everest receive top safety marks

The new-generation 2022 Ford Ranger and the related 2022 Ford Everest have both received a maximum five-star safety rating from the Australasian New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP).

In announcing the ratings today, ANCAP praised the ute and large SUV’s airbag suite – which includes a centre front airbag, driver and passenger knee airbags and head-protecting curtain airbags front and rear – as well as the effectiveness of their advanced driver assist systems.

However, to be eligible for the top rating, about 15,500 Ranger and Everest vehicles built before August 20 will need to return to the dealership to have the lane keeping support system’s software updated.

In these cars, the lane keeping aid doesn’t default to ‘on’ at every start-up. The software update changes that (although some owners might prefer it to remain off).

Ford has confirmed the update can be done at the Ranger and Everest’s “complimentary peace of mind inspection” after two months/3000km.

The two models are built on the same platform and share many safety features, but the Everest received slightly higher marks than the Ranger for adult occupant protection and safety assist – 86 per cent in both categories compared to the Ranger’s 84 and 83 per cent respectively.

The main discrepancies came with whiplash protection for adult occupants in the event of a rear-end collision – 3.19 out of four for Everest versus 2.44 for Ranger – as well as the base-model Ranger’s lack of blind spot monitoring.

The Ranger and Everest both achieved 93 per cent for child occupant protection and 74 per cent for vulnerable road user protection.

Both received a ‘marginal’ assessment for rear passenger chest protection in the full-width frontal crash test and for driver’s chest protection in the oblique pole test.

The remainder of the tests largely yielded ‘good’ results, although a ‘compatibility’ penalty was applied owing to the fact that “high and heavy vehicles, such as utilities and large SUVs, pose an increased risk to occupants of oncoming vehicles in a crash”.

Overall, the Blue Oval brand’s two new models received high praise from ANCAP.

“This is good news for fleets, families and tradies, as well as recreational consumers – everyone who uses these models for work and play,” said ANCAP chief executive, Carla Hoorweg.

“A five-star safety rating isn’t an easy achievement, yet it is particularly important when considering the very broad range of uses for the Ranger and Everest.”

Ford Australia president and CEO Andrew Birkic also described the five-star result as “great news”.

“We know how important safety is to vehicle buyers, and we want customers to have confidence that their Ranger or Everest is watching out for them,” he said.

The five-star rating applies to all versions of the new Ford Everest and almost all variants of the Ford Ranger, the exception being the range-topping Ford Ranger Raptor which will require separate testing due to its different powertrain and chassis set-up.

The Ford models join a handful of utes and ute-based SUVs that have received a five-star rating under the current ANCAP testing protocols introduced in 2020, including the Isuzu D-MAX and Isuzu MU-X, the Mazda BT-50 and the GWM Ute.