RAC welcomes latest safety ratings
28 April 2010
The RAC has welcomed the ANCAP four-star safety rating for Great Wall X240 sports utility, its first four star rating for all models, but urged the Chinese vehicle manufacturer to improve the safety across its whole range.
The X240’s four-star rating represents a considerable improvement over the poor two-star safety ratings given to the GWM twin cab utilities, which were tested last November.
“The X240’s rating is significant leap forward for the brand, but its stablemates are still well below par in the safety department,” RAC Head of Member Advocacy Matt Brown said.
“We urge all manufacturers to strive towards a minimum four-star ANCAP safety rating.”
The ANCAP tests showed the structure and restraint systems in the X240 clearly performed much better than the V240 utility tested last November.
Nonetheless, Mr Brown said further improvements were possible as many similar vehicles were now achieving a five-star rating.
The new VW Polo was also recently rated by ANCAP based on testing by EuroNCAP, and achieved the maximum five-star rating.
Surprisingly, Australia’s newest hybrid vehicle, the Toyota Camry Hybrid, only scored a four-star safety rating. The Camry Hybrid missed out on the five-star rating due to the driver’s knees being found to be vulnerable to injury in a frontal collision, and the lack of a passenger seat belt reminder.
Passenger seat belt reminders are now standard in the Toyota Aurion, as well as in all Commodores and Falcons, all of which are rated five-stars.
The RAC urges buyers of new and used cars to always check the safety ratings of vehicles they are looking to purchase.
ANCAP is supported by all Australian and New Zealand motoring clubs, all Australian state governments, the New Zealand government, the Victorian Transport Accident Commission, NRMA Insurance and the FIA Foundation.
For a full list of ANCAP’s vehicle safety ratings, and other vehicle safety information, go to
www.ancap.com.auDownload the release (pdf)