Chinese SUV fails to reach ANCAP safety benchmark
Great Wall Motors’ premium brand spin-off Haval has only achieved a four-star ANCAP safety rating for its H9 luxury SUV.
The cut-price seven-seat off-roader offers a raft of luxury and capability that keeps the likes of the Toyota LandCruiser, Ford Everest and Mitsubishi Pajero honest, but has not been as successful at convincing Australia’s road safety body it’s the safest option for fleet buyers.
“New vehicle buyers have come to expect 5-star safety from new models and unfortunately this result falls short of marketplace expectations,” said CEO James Goodwin. “This is the first rating for the Haval brand in Australia following its entry to the local market last year and the first independent safety rating for the H9 in the world.”
The H9 comes equipped with curtain airbags for all three rows, reversing collision avoidance and fatigue detection, but is devoid of autonomous emergency braking and lane support technology. But the H9’s frontal offset results were what stopped it short of achieving 5 stars.
Lower leg protection, ANCAP says, was ‘marginal’, while serious chest injury for the driver was ‘a slight risk’ – its overall score was 12.01 out of 16 points. By contrast, the brawny SUV scored a perfect 16/16 for the side impact test (typical for high-seat vehicles), ‘Good’ whiplash protection, ‘Acceptable’ pedestrian protection, it has ESC as standard and scored 2.60 out of 3 for seatbelt reminders (excluding 3rd row). Other missing features from the H9 included knee airbags, adaptive cruise control, blind spot monitoring, or speed assistance. In total, the Haval H9 scored 30.65 out of 37 and comes in two specifications: Premium, the lesser of the two, and LUX, the top-spec, respectively.
To view more ANCAP crash tests, over 570 in fact, visit www.ancap.com.au or watch them in action at www.youtube.com/user/ancapcrashtests.
