2021 Hyundai Staria and Staria-Load receive five-star ANCAP rating

Hyundai's latest vans have been signed off by Australia's crash test authority with a top score of five stars, applying to all automatic variants on the market.

Released by Hyundai in September, the Staria people-mover and its Staria-Load commercial counterpart were recently subjected to ANCAP testing, with particularly strong results shown for occupant protection in the eight-seater model.

While it doesn't apply to the Staria-Load due to its lack of rear seating, the child occupant protection score of 86 per cent was the highest-performing category for the Staria, as all tests (bar those of its on-board safety features) came within two points of full marks.

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Applicable to all variations of Staria, next best was its adult occupant protection, which was rated highly at 85 per cent – taking full marks in the side impact, far side impact and rescue and extraction tests, with every other assessment again scoring within two points of a perfect result.

A lack of junction assist autonomous emergency braking ultimately cost the van a few points for its safety systems, although taking 11.9 points out of 16 allowed it to finish with a total of 74 per cent in this category.

Finally, its most harshly-marked tests were those in the vulnerable road user protection category, leading to a still-respectable result of 65 per cent, despite it coming within 0.44 points of only getting half the marks available for head impacts – a result which could have led to it dropping down to a four-star overall rating.

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ANCAP CEO Carla Hoorweg praised Hyundai for both offerings in the Staria range, stepping up from the four-star rating of the iMax and iLoad it replaces.

“The safety rating for the Hyundai Staria will be well received by families and fleet buyers, with the Staria becoming the third vehicle in the people-mover segment to achieve a five star safety rating under ANCAP’s 2020-2022 criteria – the most stringent to date,” said Hoorweg.

“This is a highly-anticipated result for fleets, and a significant step forward from the previous generation vehicle that the Staria-Load replaces.

“For so many small businesses and tradespeople their vehicle is their workplace. By providing the full suite of available safety specifications in the Staria-Load, Hyundai has shown strong commitment to the safety of Australian and New Zealand road users and we expect this five star result will be well-received by fleets and commercial buyers.”