Ranger gets five-star safety
Ford's Ranger has become the first pick-up to score a five-star crash rating from EuroNCAP... And there were other new five-star entrants as wellThe latest round of crash testing by the European New Car Assessment Program (EuroNCAP) has awarded Ford's all-new Ranger ute with a five-star crash test rating. Though other commercial vehicles have earned top marks in testing previously (and VW's Amarok has gained an ANCAP five-star rating), Ranger is the first pick-up to achieve the five-star Euro gong.
In an official EuroNCAP release, the crash test authority acknowledged the vehicle's Australian origins and excellent crash performance.
EuroNCAP stated: "This third generation model [Ranger] was designed and engineered by Ford Australia and marks a significant improvement over the 2 star adult occupant rating of the previous Ranger in 2008. In particular, the Ranger’s 81% pedestrian score is the highest score recorded for pick-ups tested by Euro NCAP so far and therefore sets a new standard in this area.
"This performance is the result of a softer and well-engineered front end, absorbing the impact energy and better protecting pedestrians.
"Michiel van Ratingen, Euro NCAP Secretary General, says: ‘with such pedestrian protection the Ford Ranger is undoubtedly raising the bar of safety in the category of pick-up trucks, which had until now not proven to be the safest.’"
Other top scorers in the October round of Euro NCAP testing included: Audi Q3, BMW's new generation 1 series, Fiat Freemont (nee Dodge Journey), Hyundai Veloster, Mercedes M-Class and the new Toyota Yaris.
Holden's latest Captiva and Barina were tested under their Chevrolet guises and also earned five stars. In the case of the Barina a sedan version was tested. Barina hatch has already achieved five stars.
STOP PRESS: Just a day after this article was published on motoring.com.au, Ford announced that the Ranger has also been awarded five stars for crash safety by local testing authority ANCAP.
"When we developed the all-new Ranger we set out to establish many new benchmarks and we are hugely proud of the results we have achieved. Today's announcement is further proof we have developed a vehicle that delivers the levels of safety customers expect in this all-important vehicle segment," Ford President Bob Graziano said in response to the news.
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