ANCAP has announced the forthcoming Ford Escape mid-size SUV will arrive in Australia with a five-star rating.
The Escape receives its rating from Euro NCAP testing on the Kuga in 2012 and applies to all Escape models built from September 2016 onwards.
The Escape sits below the new Edge large SUV set to arrive in Australia later in the year, also with a five-star ANCAP rating, to replace the now-defunct Territory.
Despite the standard dual frontal, side chest and curtain, and knee airbags offered, low-speed autonomous emergency braking (AEB) is not available on the base model Ambiante ($24,490MRLP). However, higher-spec Titanium model ($47,000MRLP) still demands $1300 for the still-optional ‘safety pack’ (also available on Trend mid-spec variant) which adds blind spot detection, adaptive cruise control, rear cross-traffic alert and lane departure guidance, plus forward collision braking effective to a new 50km/h limit to suit suburban speed limits.
The Escape’s crash test report saw a perfect 16/16 for the 50km/h side impact test, 2/2 for the pole test, and a nearly-perfect 15.33/16 for the 64km/h frontal offset test giving it and overall score of 36.33 out of 37. Whiplash and pedestrian protection scored ‘Good’ and ‘Acceptable’ ratings respectively.
The update also means added safety equipment to the base model including reversing camera, speed limiter, electronic park brake, Sync Emergency Assist and, while it may not be strictly safety-oriented, traffic management control is a feature of the embedded satellite navigation.
The new Escape nameplate replaces the Kuga in 2017.
