ANCAP Adds BMW X3 And Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross To 5-Star List

Both the BMW X3 and Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross have achieved 5 Star crash safety ratings in the latest results released by the Australiasian New Car Assesment Program (ANCAP).

BMW’s recently introduced X3 medium SUV achieved a 93 percent adult occupant protection rating (35.4 point out of 38) and 84 percent child occupant rating (41.2 out of 49) with pedestrian protection rated at 70 percent (29.4 out of 42).

Officially the five-star rating applies to the xDrive 20d variant only.

ANCAP CEO James Goodwin praised the X3’s standard safety specification, which is slightly higher than that of European-market models.

“It is encouraging to see standard safety inclusions being prioritised for our market,” Mr Goodwin said.

The X3’s full-width frontal crash test provided ‘good’ protection to all critical body regions for front occupant except the driver’s chest which received an ‘acceptable’ rating. In the frontal offset test protection was rated as good for driver and front passenger head and legs, and acceptable for chest and lower leg regions.

Standard safety specification for the X3 includes seven airbags, electronic stability and traction control, seatbelt pretensioners for all outboard occupants, autonomous emergency braking with pedestrian detection, plus fatigue detection.

Advanced systems like lane keep assist and adaptive cruise control are standard for New Zealand but optional in Australia.

Mitsubishi’s newly introduced Eclipse Cross SUV was rated 97 percent for adult occupant protection rating (36.9 point out of 38), 78 percent for child occupant protection (38.2 out of 49), with pedestrian protection rated at 80 percent (33.8 out of 42).

“The Eclipse Cross achieved a very high score for Adult Occupant Protection at 97% - the equal second highest score in this area of assessment, and the highest in its class.” Mr Goodwin said.

Crash protection in the full-width frontal test was rated as acceptable for the driver’s chest and good for all other areas. Rear seat chest protection received a marginal rating.

In the offset test good and acceptable results were returned.

The Eclipse Cross comes standard with seven airbags, front and rear outboard seatbelt pretensioners, electronic stability and traction control, autonomous emergency braking including pedestrian detection, and lane departure warning.

ANCAP has also updated its analysis of the Nissan Qashqai in line with the 2018 model year update. Crash protection ratings remain the same as the 2014-2017 model, but the Qashqai’s updated equipment, including autonomous emergency braking and lane departure warning, have been added to ANCAP’s official scorecard.

MORE: BMW X3 | Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross | ANCAP