Holden’s newly arrived Astra gets ANCAP thumbs up

Fresh to Holden showrooms, the new German-derived Astra will sell with a revered five-star ANCAP safety rating.

“The new Astra will enter showrooms with a five star ANCAP safety rating, providing another new option for consumers in the competitive small car segment,” CEO James Goodwin said.

The five-star rating applies to mid-spec RS and top-spec RS-V variants which are available with autonomous emergency braking (AEB), Forward Collision Alert (FCW) and Lane Support Systems as a standard feature. The base model ‘R’ variant has not been rated or given the active safety equipment despite being essentially the same vehicle structurally. However, reversing camera and park assist are available on the base model.

The new Astra comes with dual frontal, side and head airbags as standard across the range, while
knee airbags are not available on any variant. Adaptive cruise control is available on the rated variants, likewise forward collision alert and blind spot alert. Satnav is available on the RS-V.

Pricing starts at $25,312 MLP for the R base model, reaches $30,574 MLP for the RS version and hits $34,851 for the RS-V list topper.

EuroNCAP performed the suite of crash tests on the Opel Astra (in LHD) and scored the vehicle’s Safety Assist features. The ESC scored a perfect 3/3, however perfect scores
slipped with crash avoidance gear.

Approaching a stationary vehicle the system scored 14.17 out of 18 for FCW, approaching a slow-moving vehicle it scored 4.47 our of 11 using AEB and 3.18 out of 11 with FCW, but scored much better with short (12 metres) or long (40 metres) headway to the vehicle in front: 1.18 out of 2 and 2 out of 2 (FCW) in respective distance tests.

“Real world safety benefits are being achieved by these important safety technologies and we encourage consumers to choose a model with these technologies fitted,” Mr Goodwin said.

In physical crash tests the full width frontal test scored the Astra 7.45 out of 8, the frontal offset scored 7.39 out of 8, in the side impact test it scored 7.5 out of 8, the pole test scored a perfect 8, in whiplash protection a 2.5 out of 3 and child occupant protection scored 84% (41.24 out of 49).

Pedestrian protection bagged an 83% score, including a ‘poor’ impact rating along the stiff A-pillars either side of the windscreen.

See the 2017 Holden Astra’s full technical crash report here.

How does your fleet rate? Visit www.ancap.com.au and make sure your next fleet is five-star. See individual crash test results for more than 590 vehicles.

Watch the anatomy of a crash on the ANCAP YouTube channel.