National safety accreditor impressed with top-selling ute and its incoming wagon offshoot.

TOP level crash safety scores have been awarded to New Zealand’s top-selling one-tonne ute, and its sports utility wagon off-shoot, by the nationally-supported crash tester.

The five star rating for the Ford Ranger from the Australasian New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP) also applies to the Ford Everest that has yet to join the traydeck on sale here.

The wagon model scored a slightly higher in adult crash protection and safety technology, but ANCAP, which still receives New Zealand Government support from funding from other agencies and organisations here, commended both vehicles in respect to their active safety provisions.

The Ranger score is applicable to all versions of the ute except the exotic dual-cab V6 petrol Raptor.

Scoring was conducted under latest 2020-22 test protocols, and Ranger is the fourth to earn the maximum rating, following the GWM Ute, and Isuzu D-Max and Mazda BT-50 twins.

Ranger received scores of 84 percent for Adult Occupant Protection, 93 percent for Child Occupant Protection, 74 percent for Vulnerable Road User Protection (pedestrians and cyclists), and 83 percent for Safety Assist technology.

ANCAP delivered “good” or “adequate” occupant protection in most front- or side-impact tests. A “marginal” performance was noted for the chest of the rear passenger in the full-width frontal crash, and the chest of the driver in the side-impact pole test.

Some points were deducted for 'compatibility', referring to the risk posed to occupants in the other vehicle in a frontal crash; that occurs with all tall or heavy vehicles.

ANCAP noted that nine airbags are standard across the Ranger line-up, including knee airbags for the driver and front passenger – and a centre airbag between the front seats, intended to prevent front occupants' heads clashing in a side-impact collision.

While child occupant protection was recorded as "good", ANCAP highlighted that child restraints can legally only be fitted to seats with top tether anchor points – and there is no such point in the centre rear seat of dual-cab variants.

Single-cab and Super Cab models do not feature top tether points in any seat.

The Everest’s score is based on the Ranger’s results, after “ANCAP was provided with technical information to show that the test results of the Ranger are also applicable to the Everest”, according to the independent safety body.

Everest is the second ute-based four-wheel-drive to achieve five stars under the latest 2020-22 test criteria, after the Isuzu MU-X.

Applicable to all model grades – in New Zealand, that’s the Trend, the Sport and the Platinum - the Everest received scores of 86 percent for Adult Occupant Protection, 93 percent for Child Occupant Protection, 74 percent for Vulnerable Road User Protection (pedestrians and cyclists), and 86 percent for Safety Assist technology.

Everest performed better than Ranger in the Adult Occupant Protection category due to a reduced risk of whiplash for rear-seat passengers, and in the Safety Assist category for improved lane-keep assist performance.

The Everest's results of 86 and 86 percent for these categories respectively compare to 83 and 84 per cent for the Ranger.

It is thought the Everest's higher lane assist score may be due to its fitment of a rear radar sensor across the range – used to prevent drivers changing lanes into the path of cars in their blind spot – which is not fitted to cab-chassis Rangers.

Ford said to achieve high levels of safety and meet its own in-house requirements, its engineers used both analytical virtual testing and physical testing, including with some crash test robots, nick-named Ray, Roberto and Rosie.

More than 150 computer-aided engineering Next-Gen Everest and Ranger models were built and analysed, each looking at crash scenarios as diverse as frontal offset, rear impact, and side impacts. Also, dozens of occupant impact scenarios were carried out to ensure the protection of a wide range of occupant statures (adults and children), as well as low-speed crashes, the kind you might experience in a car park, to determine the repairability of minor components.