The new BYD M9 has secured the maximum five-star safety rating from the Australasian New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP) ahead of its local arrival, becoming one of the first vehicles assessed under the safety authority’s tougher new testing criteria.

The new plug-in hybrid people mover was tested against ANCAP’s new 2026–2028 protocols, which assess vehicles across four areas: safe driving, crash avoidance, crash protection and post-crash. The five-star result currently applies to seven-seat versions of the M9 sold in Australia and New Zealand, with the eight-seat version due to launch next year needing to be tested separately.

White BYD M9 crash-test van with a dummy in the driver seat inside a lab, ANCAP safety logo on the door.
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The new assessment regime represents a significant change for ANCAP as it places greater emphasis on technology designed to prevent crashes in the first place, as well as occupant protection during a collision and systems that assist occupants and emergency services afterwards.

The M9 performed strongly enough across all four categories to earn the maximum rating, which is an important result given its intended role as a family-focused people mover. It scored 74 per cent for safe driving, 75 per cent for crash avoidance, 85 per cent for crash protection and 80 per cent for post-crash.

However, it wasn’t all good news for BYD in ANCAP’s latest round of testing. The more affordable Sealion 5 plug-in hybrid medium SUV received a three-star rating, making it the first BYD model assessed by ANCAP to fall short of five stars.

Its physical crash performance was stronger, scoring 79 per cent for crash protection and 74 per cent for post-crash, but it was held back by scores of 48 per cent for safe driving and 51 per cent for crash avoidance.

White ANCAP safety SUV at night with a person wearing a balaclava standing nearby.
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ANCAP highlighted several issues for the Sealion 5, including an emergency lane keeping system that failed to intervene when it drifted towards the edge of the road, while it also lacks features such as child presence detection, eCall emergency assistance, seatbelt misuse alert and low-speed pedal misapplication.

According to ANCAP, it independently selected the Sealion 5 for testing after BYD did not actively pursue a rating for the model, and the three-star rating applies to both Essential and Premium versions of the Sealion 5 sold in Australia. It’s not clear just yet whether BYD will change the Sealion 5 to re-test it.