Another poor performance from Great Wall disproves brand’s claims of ‘outstanding levels of safety’ for Steed

Independent vehicle safety advocate, ANCAP, has today released a concerning 2 star safety rating for the ‘all-new’ Great Wall Motors Steed. 5 star ratings have also been released for the Honda Civic, Hyundai i30 and Mercedes-Benz Marco Polo Activity.

Despite claims from the vehicle brand that the Chinese dual cab is ‘all-new’ and offers ‘outstanding levels of performance, value, safety and comfort,’ the underpinnings of the Steed differ little to that of the previous generation dual cab ute which carried the V240 model name.

“This is a disappointing result for consumers and the brand,” ANCAP Chief Executive Officer, Mr James Goodwin said.

“While the Steed is equipped with six airbags and electronic stability control, features which were not offered on the previous model, there has been little change to the vehicle’s structure to improve the safety of the passenger cabin.”

ANCAP is urging consumers in the market for a new car to be wary of such claims, with independent testing key to understanding the true safety performance of a vehicle.

Excessive footwell deformation, separation of footwell panels and pedal displacement was observed in the frontal offset crash test. Steering column components were a potential source of knee injury for the driver, and dash components were a potential injury source for both the driver and passenger. Protection of the driver and front passenger from whiplash injuries was also marginal.

The Steed is not fitted with top tether child restraint anchorages and is therefore not suitable for transporting young children.

Achieving top results with 5 star safety performance were the Honda Civic (sedan and hatch), the Hyundai i30 and the Mercedes-Benz recreational van, the Marco Polo Activity.

The Honda Civic sedan and Hyundai i30 were introduced to the market in mid-2016 and April 2017 respectively and their 5 star ANCAP safety ratings apply to all variants.

The Civic hatch will be released locally next month and its rating applies to all hatch variants with the exception of the Type R which is unrated.

The 5 star ANCAP safety rating for the Mercedes-Benz Marco Polo Activity carries through as a variant of the Mercedes-Benz V-Class and applies to all models built from January 2017.