IN ANOTHER SIGN OF JUST how much of a threat Chinese brands pose to existing manufacturers selling in Australia, new brand Deepal has attained a full five-star ANCAP rating for it launch model, the S07.
The Deepal S07 battery electric SUV achieved a score of 95 percent for Adult Occupant Protection, matching the Toyota Camry as the top scorer for its physical protection and safe restraint of adult occupants against current 2023-2025 criteria. To date, 37 models have been star-rated against these requirements.
Contributing to this record score were unblemished injury risk scores for the driver in the side impact (T-bone) and oblique pole crash tests, and the front-seat passenger in the frontal offset (head-on) crash test.
The design and structure of the Deepal S07 also demonstrated good performance with a low risk of serious injury to occupants of ‘opponent’ vehicles in a crash, with a very minor deduction of 0.86 points out of a potential 8.00-point penalty applied for the assessment of vehicle compatibility in the frontal offset crash test.
Maximum points were awarded for protection of child occupants in both the frontal offset and side impact crash tests.
Safe access to trapped or injured vehicle occupants by first responders is an element examined by ANCAP after every crash test, and interest in this has increased in recent years with recessed and retractable electric door handles making their way into new vehicle designs. ANCAP requires the handles of all side doors to be in the extended, ready-to-open position immediately after a crash where the vehicle’s system deploys an airbag or detects a severe impact.
The Deepal S07 has retractable door handles and post-crash assessment showed it met these criteria, and in addition, its doors could be opened if the vehicle lost power. It was also shown that its electric windows were able to be opened following water submergence.
Turning to collision avoidance capability, the S07 is fitted with a full suite of autonomous emergency braking (AEB) and lane support systems. A combination of Good and Adequate performance was seen, with mixed results in some of the more advanced AEB Pedestrian test scenarios. A Marginal performance report was recorded for the AEB Crossing scenarios where the S07 showed limited auto-brake performance when crossing the path of another vehicle.
“We’ve seen a number of new brands enter the local market over the past year and they continue to impress in meeting the high safety standard Australian consumers and fleet buyers expect,” said ANCAP Chief Executive Officer, Carla Hoorweg.