Australasia's independent voice on vehicle safety, ANCAP, has today announced five-star safety ratings for the new Ford Ranger and its partner model, the Ford Everest.
One of Australia's highest-selling vehicles, the new Ford Ranger utility, and its SUV partner, the Ford Everest both land on Australian and New Zealand roads with the highly anticipated safety rating of five stars following a full suite of independent tests conducted at test labs across Australia.
"This is good news for fleets, families and tradies, as well as recreational consumers – everyone who uses these models for work and play," said ANCAP Chief Executive Officer, Carla Hoorweg.
"A five-star safety rating isn't an easy achievement, yet it is particularly important when considering the very broad range of uses for the Ranger and Everest."
The Ford Ranger comes equipped as standard with dual frontal, side chest-protecting and side head-protecting curtain airbags, as well as a driver and passenger knee airbag. A centre airbag which provides added protection to front seat occupants in side impact crashes is also a standard offering.
Solid scores were achieved for the Ranger and Everest's protection of adult occupants in the frontal offset (MPDB), side impact and far-side impact tests, though Marginal scores were recorded for the chest of the rear passenger in the full width frontal crash test and for the chest of the driver in the oblique pole test.
High and heavy vehicles, such as utilities and large SUVs pose an increased risk to occupants of oncoming vehicles in a crash, and this was shown with the Ford Ranger and Ford Everest where a 'compatibility' penalty was applied.
Maximum scores were awarded recognising the Good levels of protection offered to child occupants in the frontal offset and side impact crashes.
Consumers must note however that most child restraints are legally only able to be used in seating positions where a top tether anchorage point is fitted, and in the case of the Ranger, a top tether anchorage is not fitted in the centre seating position of the second row in double cab variants. The installation of child restraints in single and extended cab (RAP Cab) variants of the Ford Ranger is also not recommended as there are no top tether anchorages fitted.
The Ford Ranger and Ford Everest both offer a broad range of active collision avoidance systems to help prevent or minimise the severity of a crash, including the ability to detect unmarked road edges, and oncoming vehicles in 'turning-across-path' intersection scenarios. Performance tests of autonomous emergency braking, lane keep assistance and speed assistance all scored well.
The five-star ANCAP safety rating applies to all Everest variants, and all XL, XLS, XLT, Sport and Wildtrak variants of the Ranger in single cab, extended cab (RAP Cab) and double cab body styles (including utility and cab-chassis). Raptor variants of the Ford Ranger are unrated.
Full details on the safety performance of the Ford Ranger can be viewed at http://ancap.link/s/58f98d.
Full details on the safety performance of the Ford Everest can be viewed at http://ancap.link/s/f18eb7.