The Hyundai Palisade three-row SUV has been re-evaluated by crash-tester ANCAP following some updates, and has now attained a five-star rating.
This result follows the four-star ANCAP safety rating that diesel variants of the pre-update Palisade received around two months ago, against the latest and harshest test protocols.
The new five-star rating has been applied to all petrol and diesel Palisade models manufactured from May 2022 and available for purchase in Australia from August 2022.
Diesel variants of the Palisade manufactured prior to May 2022 will hold a four-star safety rating, whereas petrol variants of the pre-update car are unrated.
MORE: 2023 Hyundai Palisade price and specs
Part of the testing for the updated Palisade included Australian evaluation of some active safety equipment, and the new centre airbag. All the other changes were evaluated using data.
The updated Hyundai Palisade earned its five-star safety rating on the back of scores of 84 per cent for adult occupant protection, 88 per cent for child occupant protection, 62 per cent for vulnerable road user protection, and 83 per cent for safety assist.
The pre-update Palisade previously fell short of the five-star mark due to its adult occupant protection (79 per cent) and safety assist (63 per cent) scores. Thresholds of 80 per cent and 70 per cent are required for five stars respectively.
The pre-update Palisade was also marked down on the safety assist front due to performance of its autonomous emergency braking (AEB) and lane-keeping systems, while the adult occupant rating could have been improved by the presence of a central airbag.
The updated Palisade addresses all of these flagged issues that previously prevented it from getting a five-star rating, as it now has a more sophisticated AEB system, as well as a central airbag.
ANCAP says the AEB system provided improved performance across all car-to-car tests scenarios including turn-across-path emergency braking functionality.
The Australian independent safety authority also praised the fitment of a speed limit information system, which is a system that can identify the local speed limit and allows the driver to set the speed accordingly, as well as multi-collision braking, which limits vehicle movement after an initial crash.
“It’s great to see Hyundai introduce these safety-related upgrades which now elevate the facelifted Palisade to five stars, and we encourage all vehicle brands to continually look for opportunities to improve the safety specification of models as part of their model facelifts,” said ANCAP CEO Carla Hoorweg.
Pre-update Palisade AEB testing
“Consumers, fleets and mobility service providers prioritise the purchase and use of five star ANCAP rated vehicles, and this upgrade now sees the Palisade become a purchasing contender for these buyers.”
Hyundai becomes the second automaker to re-test a car that’s received a facelift against the latest and most stringent 2020-22 testing protocols.
Volkswagen recently chose to re-test the updated AE-generation Polo because it includes a more generous list of standard features across the range and scored a five-star safety rating. The Polo previously wore a five-star safety rating with a 2017 date stamp.
Past examples of a similar move by automakers to get updated models re-evaluated include the Toyota HiLux, Ford Mustang and Jeep Wrangler. All of these re-tests were conducted according to older testing protocols.
Standard safety equipment across the 2023 Hyundai Palisade range includes:
- Front and front-side airbags
- Front-row centre airbag
- Curtain airbags for all three rows
- Autonomous emergency braking
- Junction-turning assist
- Blind-spot assist
- Driver attention warning
- Intelligent speed limit assist
- Multi-Collision Braking
- Safe exit assist
- Automatic high-beam
- Lane-keep assist
- Lane Following Assist (lane centring)
- Rear cross-traffic alert
- Rear occupant alert
- Leading vehicle departure alert
- Adaptive cruise control with stop/go
- Reversing camera
- Front and rear parking sensors
The Highlander also includes a 3D-view 360-degree camera, backup guide lights, and rear Parking Collision Avoidance Assist.
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