ANCAP: 5 Safety Stars For X-Trail, 308, Accord, City, Prius C

• 5 Stars For X-Trail, 308, Accord, City, Prius C
• Accord Upgraded From 4 Stars

A new round of ANCAP crash safety assessments has seen top 5-Star ratings handed down to a number of models; some brand-new and some not-so.

Nissan’s midsized X-Trail continues the carmaker’s run of 5-Star offerings - although ANCAP has again highlighted the absence of Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB), a feature offered with the X-Trail in European markets.

At the launch of Nissan's compact Qashqai earlier this year, Nissan Australia's Peter Fadeyev said that despite asking, AEB has not been made available for the brand’s local range.

“We requested it for the Australia, but at this time it’s simply not available for our market but we are continuing work to have it fitted to our vehicle in the future,” Mr Fadeyev said.

Elsewhere, Peugeot’s all-new 308 range (see TMR’s review here) has been awarded a top 5-Star rating in time for its Australian launch.

ANCAP specifies that the 308’s rating is specific to diesel models - with petrol models as yet untested - although petrol and diesel models in the 308 range share identical safety features.

Honda’s big Accord sedan has also been given a 5-Star rating this week, upgraded from the 4-Star score handed down when first tested in July last year.

At the time, ANCAP testing revealed an “elevated risk” of injury to the driver’s legs in a frontal offset crash, however new safety upgrades have reduced the danger.

As a result, this latest round of testing saw the Accord’s frontal offset test score rise from 11.21 to 14.79 for models built from August 2014, pushing the updated range into 5-Star territory.

"This is a great example of a non-regulatory program at work. While not required to improve its performance, Honda has reviewed the ANCAP test results and actively implemented changes to offer consumers a safer car,” ANCAP chairman Lauchlan McIntosh said.

"Now, not only does the Accord offer a long list of impressive safety assist technologies, including AEB on select models, it also offers improved occupant protection through a sound structure. The coupling of sound structure and active safety features is key to saving lives on our roads.”

Honda’s small City sedan also landed a 5-Star rating across the range, and Toyota’s Prius C also gains a range-wide 5-Star score.