2023 Honda HR-V hit with four-star safety rating

The 2023 Honda HR-V has been issued a four-star safety rating, an unusual setback in a class dominated by five-star scores.

The four-star safety rating for the new Honda HR-V – issued by European and Australasian authorities – could cross the vehicle off the shopping list among private buyers and fleets who place a high priority on top marks.

The safety report noted the Honda HR-V lacked a centre airbag between the front seats – designed to prevent head strike between two occupants in a severe side impact – and the vehicle was marked down for this and other shortcomings.

While the Honda HR-V scored "good" or "adequate" results in most criteria, it was rated as "marginal" in vehicle-to-vehicle and vehicle-to-pole side impact scenarios.

The safety report also noted: "Installation of typical child restraints available in Australia showed most child restraints could be accommodated in most rear seating positions, however the Type A capsule could not be correctly installed in the rear outboard seating positions (of the Honda HR-V).

While dual frontal, side, and head-protecting "curtain" airbags are standard, the report noted "a centre airbag which provides added protection to front seat occupants in side impact crashes is not available".

Autonomous emergency braking, lane-keeping assistance systems, front and rear parking sensors and a rear-view camera are standard on all variants of the 2023 Honda HR-V (starting from $36,700 drive-away in base trim).

However other useful and effective crash-avoidance systems such as blind-zone warning and rear cross-traffic alert are only available on the top-of-the-range 2023 Honda HR-V, which is priced from $47,000 drive-away (an increase of $2000 compared to the launch price of $45,000 drive-away in March 2022). Rear autonomous emergency braking is not yet available on any model.

Sales of the Honda HR-V are down 16 per cent so far this year – in a market which has grown by 2.3 per cent from January to November 2022 – amid higher, non-negotiable prices and stock shortages.

Against this backdrop, Honda Australia has started to sell a number of HR-V vehicles to local rental fleets to reverse the sales slide.

The new Honda HR-V – which is only a four-seater in a market segment dominated by five-seaters, because Honda elected not to comply the vehicle as a five-seater – currently ranks ninth in its class in the 2022 sales race, behind the Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross and ahead of the Suzuki Vitara.