The Fiat 500e, set to be the Italian brand’s first electric vehicle in Australia, has fallen short of earning five stars in ANCAP testing.
The electric city car has received a four-star rating, with scores of 78 per cent for adult occupant protection, 79 per cent for child occupant protection and 67 per cent for safety assist.
Scores of 80 per cent, 80 per cent and 70 per cent are required in these respective categories for a vehicle to earn five stars.
The 500e also received a score of 67 per cent for vulnerable road user protection.
ANCAP flagged the marginal performance for driver chest protection in the frontal offset test, and for the driver and rear passenger’s chests in the full-width frontal test. It gave the 500e a poor score for chest protection of a 10-year old dummy in side impact testing.
The safety authority also noted front-seat occupants moved across the cabin (called ‘excursion’) in the far-side oblique pole test due to the lack of a centre airbag, “with a significant risk of the head contacting the intruding door”.
The 500e was therefore given marginal and poor ratings for the prevention of excursion.
Fiat has yet to confirm local 500e specifications ahead of its launch in the first half of 2023, but in New Zealand it comes standard with autonomous emergency braking, driver fatigue monitoring and lane-keep assist.
The 500e can also be had with adaptive cruise control and lane centring.
Five stars has become the norm in ANCAP testing, with only a handful of vehicles not receiving all five under the outgoing 2020-22 testing protocols.
These comprised the zero-star Mitsubishi Express, the four-star Citroen C4 (and related Opel Mokka in New Zealand), and the four-star Hyundai Palisade which was later retested and received five stars.
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