Private, fleet and rideshare drivers will be more likely to purchase the new MG4 electric car now that Australasia’s independent vehicle safety testing organisation ANCAP has given it a 5 star safety rating. The MG 4 Electric performed well across each aspect of ANCAP assessment under the 2020-2022 rating criteria.
Competitor EV’s of a similar size GWM Ora and Cupra Born also have 5 star ANCAP ratings. The BYD Dophin doesn’t have an ANCAP rating as yet.
The MG4 is fitted with a range of collision avoidance technologies including autonomous emergency braking, active lane support, and fatigue monitoring.
Good results were seen for its performance in AEB Cyclist and some AEB Car-to-Car test scenarios, including when turning across the path of an oncoming vehicle. Mixed results were seen in AEB Pedestrian test scenarios. AEB Backover functionality, designed to detect and respond to pedestrians in reverse, is not available.
The lane support system fitted to the MG4 showed Good performance in lane keep assist test scenarios, and Adequate performance in the more critical emergency lane keeping scenarios.
Structurally, maximum points were awarded to the MG4 for its protection of adult occupants in the side impact and oblique pole tests.
A mix of Good, Adequate and Marginal results were seen in the full width frontal and frontal offset (MPDB) tests, with penalties applied for excessive forward movement of the rear passenger dummy in the full width frontal test, and for potential hard contact to the driver’s knees in the MPDB test.
The MPDB test – which also assesses vehicle-to-vehicle compatibility – showed that the MG4 presented a relatively low injury risk to occupants of an oncoming vehicle, with a modest penalty of 0.69 points applied.
The MG4 Electric is however not fitted with a centre airbag or similar countermeasure to prevent contact between front seat occupants, and prevention of excursion (movement to the other side of the vehicle) was assessed as Adequate for the vehicle-to-vehicle scenario, and Poor for the vehicle-to-pole scenario.
Strong scores were seen for the protection of child occupants in the front and side impact crash tests.
“The MG 4 Electric is the first MG model to achieve five-stars under ANCAP’s 2020-2022 protocols” said ANCAP Chief Executive, Carla Hoorweg.
The ANCAP safety rating applies to two wheel drive variants of the MG 4 Electric currently available for purchase in Australia and New Zealand. Full details on the safety performance of the MG 4 Electric can be viewed here.
