ANCAP SAFETY, Australia and New Zealand’s independent consumer voice on vehicle safety, has today released safety ratings for the Honda CR-V, Honda ZR-V and select variants of the Honda Civic. With these, ANCAP is drawing attention to specification differences that can impact the safety of Australian road users.
A five-star ANCAP safety rating has been confirmed for the e:HEV (hybrid) variantHondaCivicsold in Australia. This rating remains in line with the five-star safety rating published by ANCAP’s European counterpart, Euro NCAP.
Petrol variants of the Honda Civic however – which aren’t sold in the European market[1] – are built to and fitted with a considerably different safety specification to that of its hybrid sibling.
The safety specification differences between hybrid and petrol Honda Civic variants include the omission of:
- centre airbag – which helps protect against occupant-to-occupant and occupant-to-vehicle head injuries for front seat occupants
- side thorax-protecting airbags for rear seat occupants – which help minimise rib and chest injury in side-impact crashes
- speed sign recognition and intelligent speed limiter systems
- intelligent seatbelt reminders for rear seating positions
As a result of these differences, ANCAP is unable to determine how petrol variants would likely perform when put through the suite of rigorous testing, leaving the present status of petrol Civic variants ‘unrated’.
Honda CR-V vehicles sold in Australia and New Zealand have also been confirmed to hold a different safety specification to their European equivalents. Local CR-V vehicles are sold with a less-sophisticated suite of active collision avoidance (ADAS) features –Honda Sensing rather than the elevatedHonda Sensing 360 system – putting the CR-V’sSafety Assist score beneath the five-star threshold at 68%.
In Europe, the Honda CR-V is offered with an optional ‘safety pack’ which sees the higher-spec vehicles achieve a five-star rating while those without the safety pack, a four-star rating. The higher-performingHonda Sensing 360 system is not offered, even as an option, in vehicles sold to Australian and New Zealand consumers.
For the slightly smallerHonda ZR-V, the four-star rating for European-sold models has been confirmed for Australian models, however local vehicles are structurally different to their European siblings. A different front bumper beam is fitted to Australian vehicles, which affected test performance in some test impact locations. European vehicles are built with an additional beam in the rear doors, which is omitted from Australian-sold vehicles. Whilst no observable effect on test performance was identified, Honda is yet to provide information as to why the additional beam has been excluded.
Last month, a three-star safety rating was published by Euro NCAP for new generationSuzuki Swift models specified for and sold into the European market. Suzuki Australia has informed ANCAP that the safety specification of Swift vehicles sold in Australia and New Zealand is different to those sold in Europe. Without testing of locally-supplied vehicles the safety rating is unknown. ANCAP is currently undertaking testing of the locally-supplied Swift to determine its safety performance. A result will be released upon completion of local testing.
ANCAP and Euro NCAP took active steps in 2018 to align test and rating criteria, to encourage uniformity across markets and make it easier for manufacturers to build the same levels of safety into vehicles destined for Australia or Europe. This alignment enables ANCAP to leverage safety performance results from European testing to publish independent safety ratings for a much larger number of vehicle models each year – benefitting Australian and New Zealand consumers. Importantly, each of the European test results and the specification of vehicles actually supplied in Australia and New Zealand are closely scrutinised by ANCAP to ensure they are relevant and applicable to our local market.
“What we’re seeing here are manufacturers consciously providing Australian and New Zealand consumers with products that do not match the same levels of safety provided to European consumers, and no doubt consumers will be surprised to learn of these differences,” said ANCAP Chief Executive Officer, Carla Hoorweg.
“We are seeing some manufacturers prioritise higher levels of safety only in markets where the regulation requires it – while others are offering different safety specifications based on the expectations of dominant sales markets, production locations, or markets with less mature consumer expectations.”
“While we do see this from time to time, we don’t want to see a more significant trend emerge.”
Government-enforced safety regulation has recently been enhanced for the European market with the introduction of EU General Safety Regulation (GSR2), while Australian regulation remains years behind in some areas.
“The lives and safety of Australian and New Zealand consumers are just as important as those in Europe or any other world region. That is why we continue to carefully examine new vehicles supplied locally and point out differences so consumers can make informed purchasing decisions,” Ms Hoorweg said. “Any vehicle that is unrated is a potential candidate for testing by ANCAP.”
Full rating detail is available from the below links: