New Kia Sorento, Volkswagen Polo, Skoda Yeti, Subaru Liberty Achieve 5-Star Euro NCAP Scores

2010_kia-sorento_euro-ncap_01
Aug 27, 2009
ShareThis

ALL DUE IN AUSTRALIAN showrooms in the near future, a flotilla of new models have been awarded 5-Star crash test scores by Euro NCAP, the European equivalent of the Australasian New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP).

The 2010 Kia Sorento, scheduled for an Australian launch this year, achieved an 87 percent score for Adult Occupant Protection, 84 percent for Child Protection and 71 percent for Safety Assist equipment, making it one of the safest mid-sized SUVs available in the European market.

Jonathan Fletcher, National Public Relations Manager for Kia Motors Australia, told TMR the result comes as little surprise.

2010_kia-sorento_euro-ncap_02

 

"We're certainly not surprised about the Sorento's 5-Star Euro NCAP score. It was engineered all the way for a high level of passenger safety, and we now need to see how that fact, and the European NCAP score, translates to Australian crash testing," Mr Fletcher said.

 

The new fifth-generation 2010 Volkswagen Polo, due in Australia in early 2010 - with a three-door Polo revealed today - scored equally well, achieving a 5-star rating and a 90 percent score for Adult Occupant safety.

Child Occupant safety in the new Polo was scored at 86 percent, and the small VW hatch's Safety Assist equipment scored 71 percent.

2010_volkswagen-polo_euro-ncap_01

Helping the Polo accomplish the 5-Star rating is an extremely rigid body structure, with a 'harp' structure positioned behind the front bumper designed to increase crumple space and lessen the danger of intrusion into the passenger space.

Skoda's next entry into the Australian market, the upcoming Yeti - due in local showrooms in mid to late 2010 - gained a 5-Star rating, however only Adult Occupant safety achieved a score above 80 percent, at a favourable 92 percent.

2010_skod-yeti_euro-ncap_01

Child Occupant safety achieved a relatively high 78 percent, and the Yeti's Safety Assist equipment scored 71 percent.

 

“The result shows our commitment to safety aspects at the development stage that also includes seat geometry tests and the strength of the applied materials,” Skoda technological development chief Dr Eckhard Scholz, Škoda said.

 

The all-new 2010 Subaru Liberty, due for its Australian launch in September, achieved a 5-Star rating but failed to achieve an individual score above 80 percent.

Adult Occupant safety was rated at 79 percent, while Child Occupant safety and Safety Assist ranked at 73 percent and 71 percent respectively.

2010_subaru-liberty_euro-ncap_01

In Australia, the entire current-generation Subaru range has scored well with ANCAP, achieving a 5-Star safety rating across the range.

Related Stories

Comments

  • FrugalOne [reply]
    7 months ago 0 points
    Frankly, 5-star level is now to low, no excuse for every new modern designed and engineered car will reach that level.

    Forget 6, raise it to 7 and cars must impact offset @ 85kmh, that will keep the engineers a bit busy for a while...

    Cheers,

    F-0
  • rajman [reply]
    7 months ago 0 points
    isn't the new liberty out now? i've seen about 3 on the road and some at the front of dealerships...
  • marty [reply]
    7 months ago 0 points
    no rajman, not out yet. some dealers have a few on show but not available for test drives just yet. not on sale til 1st or 2nd week of september, the dealer told me. if u've seen some, maybe they're being driven by journalists.. i bumped into a reviewer from wheels magazine in my own street about 1.5 months ago with a new liberty wagon in the driveway, they'd just taken it to the snow.
  • Eurothusiast [reply]
    7 months ago 0 points
    What defines how many points a certain safety feature earns when it's on a vehicle? I recall Mercedes were rather vocal about their cars being rated the same as a run-of-the-mill Holden when they both had ABS and got the same mark, despite Mercedes' having something like 6+ sensors and Holden's only having 2.

    @FrugalOne: Yeah, sometimes I think that many cars are earning 5 stars rather easily, yet there are vehicles that easily exceed that and get placed into the same segment. I'm not sure if the NCAP rating has changed over the years to accommodate the technologies and size of vehicles.

Post new comment

Want to join the discussion, or start one off?

Before you can get started, you'll need to log in to the TMR comments system via one of the services below (TMR Hub, Facebook, OpenID). If you don't have an account with any of those three, we'd recommend a TMR Hub account, so that you can take advantage of the great features that are just around the corner.

OR OR

(optional)
(not shown to others)


To comment, you must be logged in via one of the above methods.