ANCAP reveals van safety comparison for 2022

Safety authority ANCAP has revealed its latest van comparison – outlining how Australia’s commercial offerings stacked up against one another.

The body has today released its second round of results evaluating the availability and performance of active safety systems across a range of goods-carrying commercial vans.

The news follows the first round published in December 2020, and includes updated assessments of the Mercedes-Benz Vito and Iveco Daily, which have both since undergone updates, and adds the LDV Deliver 9 as well as the newly-released Hyundai Staria Load to create a ranking of 16 vehicles in total.

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Coming out on top in the light commercial category was the Hyundai Staria-Load, with a ‘platinum' ranking of 90 per cent, followed by the Toyota HiAce and Mercedes-Benz Vito – both deemed ‘gold’ standard with 77 and 61 per cent results respectively.

Meanwhile, at the bottom of the ladder was unsurprisingly the Mitsubishi Express van (having been awarded the first zero-star rating ever in 2021) with a ‘not recommended’ label and 11 per cent ranking, as was its alliance stablemate the Renault Trafic, due to their lack of active safety systems.

In the heavy commercial sector the Ford Transit Custom was top dog, with a 'gold' result and 63 per cent tally, while coming in last was the Renault Master, again ‘not recommended’ with a six per cent total.

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“This analysis provides added value to fleet and commercial van operators as it extends beyond ANCAP’s traditional star rating program to shine a light on the active safety performance of an important segment,” said ANCAP Chief Executive Officer, Carla Hoorweg.

“Vans are a workplace. Their increased on-road exposure and frequent use in built-up urban areas means they interact with a large number of other vehicles, pedestrians and cyclists. It is essential that fleet and van operators are aware of the crash avoidance capabilities and active safety features fitted to their vehicles.”

Building on the results of the 2020 analysis, the updated Mercedes-Benz Vito (from January 2021) joined the Toyota HiAce and Ford Transit in achieving a ‘gold’ level of crash avoidance performance.

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The improved specification elevated the Vito’s score from a 23 per cent ‘bronze’ score to a 61 per cent ‘gold’ through the standard inclusion of car, pedestrian and cyclist-detecting autonomous emergency braking, lane departure warning and blind spot monitoring systems.

The Iveco Daily (from February 2021) has also since gained autonomous emergency braking (car-to-car), a driver monitoring system and seat belt reminders for the driver and passenger as standard, increasing its score from six per cent and ‘not recommended’ to 24 per cent ‘bronze’.

“The information provided in this latest comparison report highlights the differences in safety specification and the varying levels of active safety performance across van models. It is encouraging to see the full suite of active safety features now standard in a number of vans and we encourage brands to continue updating the safety specification of their vans as they would with passenger vehicles,” Ms Hoorweg added.

Light Commercial Vehicle Safety Ratings

Heavy Commercial Vehicle Safety Ratings