ANCAP SAFETY, Australasia's independent consumer voice on vehicle safety, has released five-star safety ratings for new market arrivals - the Smart #1 and Smart #3. These are the first ANCAP safety ratings for the Smart brand in 16 years, and are the first vehicles with a Smart badge to reach five stars.
The pair of battery electric vehicles both achieved solid scores across ANCAP’s multi-pillar assessment, placing them well within five-star bounds.
The Smart #3 Small Car, which was assessed against current 2023-2025 criteria, demonstrated high levels of occupant protection in physical crash tests, with a mix of Good and Adequate results recorded for adult and child protection across the majority of crash scenarios. A Poor result was however noted for occupant-to-occupant contact in the oblique pole test as the centre airbag between the front seats did not prevent contact between the heads of the driver and front passenger.
A similar mix of Adequate and Good occupant protection results were seen in crash tests of the Smart #1 Small SUV, with full points awarded for driver protection in the full width frontal and side impact tests, and both child occupants in the frontal offset test. This performance contributed to a high Adult Occupant Protection score of 96%, noting the Smart #1 was assessed against the earlier 2020-2022 rating criteria, as it was introduced into the European market ahead of the Smart #3.
Both the #1 and #3 are equipped with a similar array of advanced safety technologies designed to actively avoid a collision with another vehicle, pedestrian, or cyclist.
Additional assessments examining the performance of its direct driver monitoring system, cyclist anti-dooring warning, and motorcycle-detecting autonomous emergency braking (AEB) system were undertaken on the Smart #3, with Good results shown in the AEB Motorcycle tests.
The Smart #3 was also assessed for its ability to detect motorcycles in lane keeping scenarios. Good performance was seen across the majority of test scenarios, yet Poor performance was recorded for the lower speed overtaking motorcycle scenario.
AEB Backover – the ability to detect pedestrians and autonomously brake when reversing – is not fitted as standard to either the Smart #1 or Smart #3.
“These five-star results for the Smart #1 and Smart #3 will be reassuring to buyers looking to purchase a new car from this unique brand. A pair of very sound safety results,” said Carla Hoorweg, ANCAP Chief Executive Officer.
Five-star ANCAP safety ratings apply to all Smart #1 and Smart #3 vehicles on sale in Australia from September 2024.
Full details on the safety performance of the Smart #1 and #3 can be viewed at ancap.com.au.
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