Safety of Medium SUV segment enhanced with five-stars for Mercedes-Benz GLC and upgraded Land Rover Discovery Sport

Additional options are now available for safety-conscious consumers looking to buy a mid-size SUV, with ANCAP today issuing a five-star safety rating for the new Mercedes-Benz GLC. Following recent safety upgrades and reassessment against 2022 protocols, the Land Rover Discovery Sport has also been awarded a revised five-star ANCAP safety rating.

Assessed against 2020-2022 protocol criteria, the Mercedes-Benz GLC achieved a high Adult Occupant Protection score of 92%. Full points were awarded for the protection of the driver and child occupants in the side impact test; the driver in the full width frontal test; and front seat passenger in the frontal offset (MPDB) test. Protection offered to the chest of the driver in the oblique pole test was however assessed as Weak.

Concern was noted for the GLC’s design in preventing serious pelvic injury to a struck pedestrian with a Poor impact protection rating and nil score recorded in this area of assessment.

Assessment of the GLC’s active safety capability demonstrated its effectiveness in responding to other vehicles, pedestrians, and cyclists through its autonomous emergency braking (AEB) system, which also includes reversing and turning scenarios. Good levels of performance were shown in these tests, with crash avoidance or mitigation demonstrated across the tested scenarios.

Tests of the GLC’s lane support system showed Good performance in lane keep assist (LKA) scenarios, and Adequate performance in the more critical emergency lane keeping (ELK) scenarios.

“Mercedes-Benz continues to offer a comprehensive safety package to its customers,” said ANCAP Chief Executive, Carla Hoorweg.

The current generation Land Rover Discovery Sport was first introduced in Australia and New Zealand in 2015 where it achieved a five-star rating against the test criteria of the time. Following safety upgrades introduced to the Discovery Sport last year, the Discovery Sport subsequently underwent a fresh round of testing against the more stringent 2022 test criteria where it demonstrated continued five-star safety performance across all areas of ANCAP’s assessment.

Enhancements to the AEB system fitted to the Discovery Sport saw it achieve Good results in testing of its AEB Car-to-Car functionality, including in AEB Junction Assist and AEB Car-to-Cyclist test scenarios. Tests of its AEB Car-to-Pedestrian and lane support systems showed Adequate performance.

Structurally, the protection offered by the Discovery Sport to vehicle occupants in a crash was sound, with a mix of Good, Adequate and Marginal results recorded. Points were deducted for the Discovery Sport’s performance in side impacts, as the side chest-protecting airbag did not deploy correctly.

“ANCAP’s assessments and vehicle safety have both come a long way since the Land Rover Discovery Sport was first assessed in 2014.”

“For the same generation model to be awarded five-stars against ANCAP’s more recent protocols is an impressive achievement.”

The revised ANCAP safety rating for the Land Rover Discovery Sport applies to petrol variants sold from April 2022 in Australia and May 2022 in New Zealand. The Discovery Sport SE P300e PHEV is unrated.

Full details on the safety performance of all vehicles rated by ANCAP is available at www.ancap.com.au.