ANCAP (the Australasian New Car Assessment Program) has revealed new safety ratings for vans under its Commercial Van Safety Comparison program, including the new Kia PV5 Cargo. Undertaken as a parallel consumer information program to ANCAP’s traditional star rating program, the Commercial Van Safety Comparison was designed for consumers and fleets to compare the availability and performance of advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) across the commercial van market (NA and NB category vehicles).

The new Kia PV5 Cargo, which is about to be released in Australia, is the newest model tested under the program and was awarded a 91 per cent or platinum rating. According to ANCAP, its testing showed the PV5 provided good levels of performance across the majority of autonomous emergency braking (AEB), lane support, and speed assistance test scenarios.

Adequate performance was observed in AEB scenarios involving pedestrians, while it lost points for not being available with automatic braking in reverse.

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While the PV5 is the newest van on the block, it didn’t score quite as high as the Volkswagen Transporter (and the related Ford Transit Custom), which earned a 93 per cent or platinum rating. ANCAP said that its assessment of the Volkswagen Transporter confirmed good performance across all areas and unlike the PV5, it features reverse automatic braking.

The latest generation Transporter improved on the result of the previous model, which achieved a silver grading when assessed in 2022.

Under the latest release, the Fiat Scudo recently reintroduced to the Australian market earned an ANCAP safety grading for the first time, achieving a gold level of active safety performance (67%). As with all other vans in this latest assessment batch, the Scudo is equipped with autonomous braking, emergency lane keeping, blind spot monitoring, speed assistance, and a driver monitoring system. Its performance across these systems, however, was mixed – offering reduced overall capability to that of the Kia PV5 Cargo and VW Transporter.

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Other new scores given by ANCAP for the Commercial Van Safety Comparison included the Peugeot Boxer and Fiat Ducato twins, which were given a gold or 77 per cent rating.

Highest-rated vans under ANCAP Commercial Van Safety Comparison:

  • Volkswagen Transporter/Ford Transit Custom and Ford Transit: 93%
  • Kia PV5 Cargo: 91%
  • Toyota HiAce, Hyundai Staria Load and Mercedes-Benz Vito/eVito: 90%
  • Mercedes-Benz Sprinter/eSprinter: 89%
  • LDV Deliver 7: 86%
  • Farizon SV: 84%
  • Volkswagen ID. Buzz Cargo: 80%
  • Peugeot Boxer/Fiat Ducato: 77%
  • Fiat Scudo: 67%