Mercedes-Benz EQE SUV, BMW 5 Series and Kia EV9 awarded five-star safety ratings

The Australasian New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP) has awarded a five-star safety rating to three new models on sale in local showrooms – the Kia EV9 and Mercedes-Benz EQE electric SUVs, as well both petrol and battery-powered versions of the BMW 5 Series.

The three vehicles were subjected to ANCAP’s – and its European counterpart, Euro NCAP’s – new-for-2023 test protocols, which include more stringent criteria than previous iterations.

The 2024 Mercedes-Benz EQE SUV received scores of 87 per cent for Adult Occupant Protection, 92 per cent for Child Occupant Protection, 80 per cent for Vulnerable Road User Protection (pedestrians and cyclists), and 86 per cent for Safety Assist technology.

ANCAP noted the EQE SUV received perfect marks in the side impact test and provided textbook protection of its front seat passenger in the frontal offset test – while also scoring full points for child occupants in the two scenarios.

Despite being fitted with a centre airbag between the front seats – to reduce the risk of head clashes – the Mercedes-Benz EQE SUV did not demonstrate an ability to “protect a range of occupant sizes”, leading to no points for this criteria.

Both the petrol-powered 2024 BMW 5 Series and the electric BMW i5 received scores of 89 per cent for Adult Occupant Protection, 87 per cent for Child Occupant Protection, 86 per cent for Vulnerable Road User Protection (pedestrians and cyclists), and 81 per cent for Safety Assist technology.

According to ANCAP, the BMW 5 Series and i5 performed strongly across the organisation’s physical crash tests, in particular in protecting vulnerable road users.

The organisation also noted the sedan’s windows and doors can continue operating for at least two minutes when the car is submerged underwater and electric power has been lost.

Finally, the 2024 Kia EV9 electric SUV was scored at 84 per cent for Adult Occupant Protection, 87 per cent for Child Occupant Protection, 76 per cent for Vulnerable Road User Protection (pedestrians and cyclists), and 85 per cent for Safety Assist technology.

The electric SUV’s autonomous emergency braking (AEB) car-to-car and lane-keep assist systems were awarded maximum points, though the lack of a standard AEB backover system meant the function was not tested despite being fitted to some examples.

Kia has also equipped the EV9 with a direct driver monitoring system (DMS), which can monitor driver distraction, drowsiness and microsleep across short and long periods, triggering the car’s safety technology to prepare for an incident.

An indirect child presence detection (CPD) system is also fitted as standard for the second and third rows, alerting the driver if the vehicle believes a child has been left behind.