Tesla Model Y receives top safety rating from Australia’s ANCAP

Tesla continues to receive accolades for its safety ratings, with the Model Y receiving the top safety rating from Australia’s ANCAP.

Australasian New Car Assessment Program or ANCAP becomes the latest car safety agency to give Tesla’s electric SUV a top safety score.

We previously reported on the Model Y acing its safety test with NHTSA and achieving the highest possible IIHS safety rating.

While the Model Y has been on the market in the US for a few years now, it just arrived in Australia a few months ago.

Now ANCAP has released its safety rating for the electric SUV, and it received five stars. However, it is important to look at the individual scores in every category since it tells a much better story than the five stars, which are somewhat easy to get.

Tesla scored high in all categories, but especially in adult occupant protection and safety assist:

For comparison, the recently tested 2022 Kia Niro also received five stars, but it scored much lower than the Tesla Model Y in every category:

The Model Y scored a near-perfect result in the crash tests for adult occupants:

For child occupant protections, Tesla Model Y lost some safety score points because it is not equipped to support every kind of child seats:

Installation of typical child restraints available in Australia and New Zealand showed most child restraints could be accommodated in the rear seating positions, however the Type A capsule and one of the selected booster seats could not be correctly installed in the centre rear seating position.

Another place where Model Y lost a few points is with the protection of road users as ANCAP found that if it struck a pedestrian, it would have a hard time with the base of the windscreen:

The bonnet of the Tesla Model Y provided GOOD or ADEQUATE protection to the head of a struck pedestrian over most of its surface, with WEAK and POOR results recorded at the base of the windscreen and on the stiff windscreen pillars.

On the other side, the agency was impressed by Tesla’s autonomous emergency braking system for protecting road users.

ANCAP wrote in the results:

The autonomous emergency braking (AEB) system is capable of detecting and reacting to pedestrians and cyclists. The AEB system showed GOOD performance in pedestrian test scenarios in both daylight and low light, with collisions avoided or mitigated in most scenarios including in turning scenarios and some reverse (AEB Backover). In cyclist test scenarios, the AEB system offered GOOD performance with maximum points scored.

The agency was also impressed with Tesla’s autonomous driver assist system for preventing or mitigating crashes with other vehicles (car-to-car).

It wrote in the assessment:

Tests of the AEB (Car-to-Car) system showed GOOD performance with collisions avoided or mitigated in all scenarios, including AEB Junction Assist where the test vehicle can autonomously brake to avoid crashes when turning across the path of an oncoming vehicle.

ANCAP says that those safety results apply for the Tesla Model Y Rear-Wheel Drive and Performance variants.

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