Record safety ratings for Hyundai Ioniq 6 and Lexus RX
Tuesday, 21 February 2023
The incoming Hyundai Ioniq 6 four-door sedan and Lexus RX large SUV have been given huge safety scores by ANCAP in its latest round of testing.
Hyundai’s next electric vehicle, the Ioniq 6 streamliner, was given a total of 97% in its protection of adult occupants, and full points for tests on protection of children. The adult occupant score matches that of the Tesla Model Y.
ANCAP also found that it has very good safety performance in vehicle-to-vehicle crashes, and low levels of injury risk across all tested crash scenarios.
ANCAP Chief Executive, Carla Hoorweg, praised the Ioniq 6’s safety performance, stating: “Electric vehicles have the potential to pose less risk to vehicle occupants in a frontal crash scenario, and we’ve seen that play out in testing of the Ioniq 6. The vehicle’s autonomous emergency braking system also performed very well in testing.”
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It also pays to mention that the European version of the Ioniq 6 was tested, which does not get the autonomous emergency braking (AEB) backover system that is standard for Australian and New Zealand vehicles. The AEB backover system works to prevent collisions while reversing. Because this was not on the test vehicle, it was not counted in the scoring.
Boss of Hyundai New Zealand, Andy Sinclair, added that the score is a “testament to Hyundai’s commitment to safety and innovation.”
Meanwhile, the Lexus RX scored 89% for its protection of pedestrians and cyclists in the Vulnerable Road User Protection area of assessment. A healthy Safety Assist score of 93% was also recorded for the RX’s collision avoidance capability.
“The Lexus RX is another of our top performers – achieving high scores across all key areas of assessment resulting in a five star ANCAP safety rating,” Hoorweg said.
Lexus’ safety suite includes a range of airbags including a driver’s knee-protecting airbag and a centre airbag designed to minimise injury risk should contact between the two front seat occupants occur during a crash.
The centre airbag demonstrated effective performance in preventing serious head contact in set test scenarios, however a penalty was applied as technical evidence to demonstrate effective performance across a range of different seating positions was not supplied.
Needless to say, both vehicles were given a five-star rating by ANCAP.