ANCAP awards 5-star safety ratings for the Ford Transit and Mercedes-Benz V-Class.
The Australasian New Car Assessment Programme (ANCAP) has issued a statement announcing that the Ford Transit Custom and the Mercedes-Benz V-Class have undergone their testing regimen and emerged with a 5-star safety rating.
The Ford Transit scored a total of 30.3 out of a maximum of 36 points for the Adult Occupant Protection tests, with a 12.82 out of 16 in the frontal offset crash test, a full 8 out of 8 for side impact and a 7.10 out of 8 for pole impact.
ANCAP CEO James Goodwin said of the Ford van’s result: “The Transit is a popular choice for large and small commercial operators such as tradespeople or couriers. Transit drivers will now have the knowledge their van offers the highest level of safety.”
A rating also applies to the Ford Tourneo Custom, a people-mover variant of the Transit Custom that’s sold in New Zealand.
During these batch of van crash tests, the Mercedes-Benz V-Class also scored a 5-star safety rating from ANCAP. The German manufacturer can be commended for taking their the safety of their vans as seriously as they do their passenger cars.
For the series of tests conducted by ANCAP, the Mercedes-Benz was given a dual rating. Variants without the head-protecting side (curtain) airbags were given a 4-star ANCAP rating while the units sold with curtain airbags earn a full 5-star score.
Mercedes-Benz has committed to implement a change to their V-Class that will include head-protecting side airbags as a standard safety feature for all vehicles produced from July 2016, guaranteeing a 5-star ANCAP safety rating for the brand’s van offering from then on, at least given the present testing methods and regulations.
Mr Goodwin, on the Mercedes-Benz’s score, said: “Mercedes-Benz has taken the responsible action to work with ANCAP to improve safety and address the 4-star result. This is an encouraging outcome for safety and should be commended for working quickly to implement these important safety improvements. Consumers should therefore be mindful that Vito variants without head-protecting side airbags are 4 star rated.”
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