Cupra Born EV enters with five star safety

Choice is growing for Australian and New Zealand consumers in the market for a small and safe battery electric vehicle (BEV) as the Cupra Born arrives with a five-star ANCAP safety rating.

Available to customers from this month, the Cupra Born achieved solid scores in all four key areas of the ANCAP safety assessment:

• 93% - Adult Occupant Protection
• 89% - Child Occupant Protection
• 73% - Vulnerable Road User Protection
• 80% - Safety Assist

The Cupra Born joins the GWM Ora as the only two BEV models rated by ANCAP in the Small Car segment to carry a five star safety rating against the 2020-2022 rating criteria.

The Nissan Leaf and Opel Corsa (NZ) also carry five-star ANCAP safety ratings, having been rated against earlier, less stringent criteria. Four star ratings apply to the recently rated Fiat 500e and Citroen eC4 (NZ) BEVs.

Maximum scores were awarded to the Cupra Born for its protection of child occupants in the two physical crash tests designed to assess the risk of injury to children seated in age-appropriate child restraints. The maximum score was also achieved for lower leg protection offered to pedestrians. High scores were achieved for the protection of adult occupants across all other physical crash tests.

Active safety performance tests presented a mix of results for the Born’s ability to prevent or mitigate the severity of a crash with pedestrians and cyclists. Autonomous emergency braking (AEB) functionality exists in forward-travel scenarios, however its AEB system does not react to pedestrians in reverse or forwards-turning scenarios and hence these were not tested or scored.

Good performance was noted for AEB car-to-car functionality in forward-travel scenarios involving approaching a stationary car, a slower moving car, and both a light and heavily-braking car. Tests for turning-across-path AEB scenarios involving another car showed Adequate performance.

“It’s great to see another fully electric model enter our market with the maximum five-star ANCAP safety rating,” said ANCAP Chief Executive, Carla Hoorweg.

“The momentum for safe and green models is growing, and this rating will provide further confidence to consumers and regulators to embrace safety and environmental credentials as a non-negotiable package,” Ms Hoorweg added.

The ANCAP safety ratings for all BEVs rated to date can be viewed here.