The latest generation of Toyota’s top-selling car smashes an important test.

THE latest generation of the country’s most popular car has been unruffled being subjected to a just-introduced tough new crash test standard.

The hatchback edition of the Toyota Corolla has a achieved a maximum five star score from the Australasian New Car Assessment Programme crash test schedule.

The ANCAP assessment is part-funded by the New Zealand Government and several agencies here, including the Automobile Association, which provides comment on its behalf in this country.

ANCAP has just begun to test to new protocols that theoretically make it more challenging for a new car to achieve maximum scores.

However, the Corolla is the third car through – and also the third to make the highest standard. The other two were two sports utilities, the Mazda CX-8 and the Volvo XC40.

Toyota had forecast a five-star result when it launched Corolla. The rating applies across the range and is based on testing conducted in Melbourne of a right-hand drive petrol-electric hybrid.

Ensuring it was eligible for five stars, all models in the new Toyota Corolla line-up come with a comprehensive driver assistance package that includes autonomous emergency braking and lane keeping assistance.

The Corolla achieved a 96 per cent rating for adult occupant protection, 83 percent for child occupant protection, 86 percent for vulnerable road user protection and 76 percent for safety assist.

The scores for vulnerable road user protection and safety assist are the highest reported by ANCAP under the new 2018 testing regime.

The new Toyota Corolla scored a possible 36.6 points out of a possible 38 for adult occupant protection, achieving maximum points for the side impact, oblique pole and low speed AEB tests.

Its lowest rating was 7.31 out of a possible eight points for the frontal offset test, with only adequate – the highest rating is good – protection offered for the driver's chest and lower legs of both the driver and front passenger. In the new full frontal test, protection was only adequate for the chest of the driver and chest and neck area of the rear passenger.

Child occupant protection was rated 40.91 points out of a possible 49, with the dynamic side test and restraint installation achieving maximum ratings. But on-board safety features was rated at only six out of 13.

In the frontal offset crash-test, protection of the six-year old dummy and neck of both the six and 10-year old dummies was adequate.

The model scored 41.37 points out of a possible 48 for vulnerable road user protection. The bonnet provided mostly good or adequate protection to the head of a pedestrian, dropping to marginal in some cases at the base of the windscreen.

The AEB system was rated good for its detection of pedestrians in both daylight and at night. Cyclist detection was also rated as good.

The Corolla scored 9.9 out of a possible 13 points for safety assist systems.

Interurban AEB performance was rated as good in highway speed scenarios, while the lane support system was adequate. But the lack of blind spot monitoring and reversible seatbelt tightening lowered its score slightly.

AA Motoring Services General Manager Stella Stocks said it is fantastic to see such a popular vehicle achieving a top safety rating against ANCAP’s new standards.

“Collision prevention technologies, such as blind spot monitoring (BSM) and lane keep assist (LKA), are no longer just what you can expect in high-end luxury vehicles.

“The Corolla is New Zealand’s highest selling new passenger car, so it’s particularly encouraging to see that the new model is at the forefront of vehicle safety.”