Five star scores from national crash testing auditor.

TWO recent five-seater crossover introductions from Chinese car brands have fared well in testing assessments by the national independent crash assessment auditor.

Australasian New Car Assessment Programme (ANCAP), which is part-funded by NZ agencies but bases in Australia, has announced its top rating - a five-star score - can apply to the HS from MG and the Omoda E5, the electric version of the C5 petrol that the Chery-owned brand already has this score.

The determinations were based on the cars’ performance in the tests run to latest rating criteria, but not with tests at the organisation’s Melbourne centre.

In case of the E5, ANCAP determined the C5’s score, sorted by testing conducted some months ago, could extend to the battery-pure type.

The MG HS result, meantime, was adopted from crash testing conducted by its sister organisation, Euro NCAP. Those procedures are pictured here.

The MG HS has just launched here in pure petrol form, but a plug-in hybrid is coming. the test result only appears to apply to petrol type, which has a .15-litre four cylinder and provisions in three variants, with pricing starting from $36,990.

The car scored 90 percent in adult occupant protection, achieving total points in the side impact, oblique pole, whiplash protection, and far-side impact tests. For child occupant protection, the score was 87 percent, with protection of all critical body regions rated as ‘good’.

In respect to vulnerable road user protection, the MG HS achieving 83 percent. In physical pedestrian impact testing, strong scores were recorded for the femur, knee and tibia body regions.

The HS’s autonomous emergency braking (AEB) system performed well. Its standout performance area was car-to-motorcycle functionality, where total points were scored for AEB and lane support test scenarios involving a motorcycle.

The MG HS has an AEB system that can detect pedestrians when reversing. ANCAP determined that system had flaws, so gave it a marginal score.

A five star score is a strong sales tool for brands. Conversely, anything less than four stars can be an issue. MG knows full well, from the result ANCAP determined for the only other one of its cars to be tested this year.

The MG 3 being meted three stars means it has the same score as the previous type, which was the oldest car MG sold and with the lowest safety protection. The new MG3 updated to many more safety systems, but the test also toughened up, and shortcomings were identified.