Cupra defends Tavascan's four-star ANCAP safety rating, welcomes real-world testing

The Cupra Tavascan has missed out on a maximum five-star safety rating from the Australasian New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP), and it’s because of a driver assist feature – or rather, its absence.

Despite receiving scores of 89 per cent for adult occupant protection, 87 per cent for child occupant protection and 80 per cent for vulnerable road user protection, the Tavascan’s score of 67 per cent for safety assist systems saw it receive a four-star rating overall.

Vehicles must receive 80 per cent in adult and child occupant protection, and 70 per cent in the vulnerable road user protection and safety assist categories to get a five-star rating from the independent auto safety authority.

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ANCAP dinged the Cupra for the lack of an intelligent speed assistance system or speed limit information function, which saw it miss out on the five-star rating given to it by sister authority Euro NCAP in 2024.

“While some improved performance across the Safety Assist pillar could have enhanced its score, the absence of an advanced speed assistance system primarily contributed to this four-star result,” said ANCAP CEO Carla Hoorweg.

“Speed sign recognition and an intelligent speed limiter are standard in European models but have not been made available to current Australian Tavascan buyers.

“The Tavascan performed well in each of the other areas of assessment, and we encourage Cupra to consider an update to Australian vehicles to elevate it to the five-star level of its European equivalents.”

In response, Cupra issued the following statement:

“Cupra is committed to a high level of active and passive safety systems as standard across its range. The Travel Assist, Adaptive Cruise Control, Lane Assist and Side Assist functions on the Tavascan have been recognised in real world testing by mainstream journalists as among the most comprehensive and intuitively tuned in the industry.

“The Tavascan comfortably exceeds five-star requirements in three of the four segments, including segments crucial to driver and passenger safety such as Adult Occupant Protection, Child Occupant Protection and Vulnerable Road User Protection.

“In the fourth segment, Driver Assist, the Tavascan fulfilled or exceeded all requirements with the single exception of a speed limit information function.

“Cupra welcomes independent testing of its safety systems on real roads.”

ANCAP said the Tavascan performed well in destructive crash testing, with the vehicle providing ‘Good’ protection for most body regions of front-seat occupants in frontal offset testing; the safety authority also noted it “excelled” in side impact testing, earning maximum points.

Full points were also awarded for protection of both child dummies in frontal offset and side impact crash tests.

“Crash protection is a fundamental element of every ANCAP safety rating, and the Cupra Tavascan performed well in these areas with strong structural performance,” said Ms Hoorweg.

ANCAP said the Tavascan’s autonomous emergency braking (AEB) system showed “consistent performance when responding to pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists in a range of collision avoidance scenarios, where it successfully mitigated or avoided collisions”.

It noted, however, the AEB system can’t detect pedestrians while reversing, while the safe exit warning system notified exiting occupants too late and its performance was therefore deemed ‘poor’.

Standard safety equipment across the Tavascan range includes:

• 7 airbags
• Autonomous emergency braking (AEB)
  • Pedestrian, cyclist detection
  • Turn Assist
• Blind-spot monitoring
• Lane-keep assist
• Rear cross-traffic alert
• Travel Assist
  • Adaptive cruise control
  • Lane centring
  • Traffic jam assist

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