The MG 5 sedan has been awarded a zero-star ANCAP safety rating against the latest 2023-2025 testing protocols.
The small sedan is one of two vehicles to receive a zero-star ANCAP safety rating under these latest testing protocols. The other vehicle is the Mahindra Scorpio body-on-frame SUV.
It received an adult occupant protection score of 37 per cent, child occupant protection score of 58 per cent, vulnerable road user protection score of 42 per cent, and a safety assist score of 13 per cent.
ANCAP claims the MG 5 would be unable to achieve a safety rating “any higher than zero stars” due to its active collision avoidance performance, as well as its physical crash protection.
During the testing the MG 5 recorded Poor ratings for the chest and legs of the driver in the frontal offset test, as well as Poor ratings for the chest and legs of the rear passenger in the full-width frontal test.
Penalties were also applied for chest deflection and seat belt loading exceeding injury limits, as well as hazards behind the dashboard structure.
The Australian Government-funded independent safety authority noted loading on the head and neck of the child dummies in the MG 5 was “significantly higher than seen in most current-generation vehicles”.
Weak results were recorded for three of the four child dummies across both the front and side impact tests, which ANCAP indicates “a lack of design effort to prevent rear-seat occupant injury in frontal impact and side impact scenarios”.
In the entry-level MG 5 Vibe there are no seat belt pre-tensioners and load limiters fitted to the front or rear seats. In the flagship MG 5 Essence they’re only fitted to the front seats and not the rear.
ANCAP noted the autonomous emergency braking (AEB) performance was “limited or not available”, with other “contemporary aids to monitor driver alertness and the presence of children inadvertently left in the vehicle not offered”.
There’s currently no centre airbag offered across the entire MG 5 line-up, nor are there blind-spot monitoring and lane-keep assist systems.
“While the lack of collision avoidance (ADAS) features consumers have come to expect have been omitted from the MG 5 – and play a part in limiting the MG 5’s safety rating – a fundamental element of ANCAP assessments remains a vehicle’s physical crashworthiness,” said ANCAP CEO Carla Hoorweg.
“Until now, the physical crash performance of this model in comparison to other peer vehicle models has been unknown to Australian and New Zealand consumers, and our crash testing of the MG 5 revealed a number of significant deficiencies in specification, design and performance.
“A critical part of ANCAP’s role is to determine the physical crash performance of new models to allow consumers to make informed purchasing choices.
“Limiting our ratings to desktop-only assessments based on specification information alone does not allow consumers to see potential safety deficiencies and associated safety risks that some vehicles may offer.
“Our recent physical crash testing of the MG 5 underscores the ongoing need for independent crash testing in addition to collision avoidance assessments.”
“MG has worked closely with the Australian Government to ensure that the MG 5 has met the relevant Australian Design Rules (ADRs) for vehicle design when they are first supplied to the Australian market,” said a MG Motor Australia spokesperson.
“The MG 5 was certified and approved for sale in Australia and has met the (ADR) rules to be sold. The current MG 5 is offered to the Australian market as an affordable car in the sedan segment.
“We are always striving to do the right thing by our customers in terms of affordability, form and function. Where and when possible, we will add improvements to our products for our models during their life cycle. In 2024, the MG 5 will receive a safety pack upgrade which will increase the overall safety of this model inline with ANCAP’s rating system.
“These planned enhancements for the MG 5 will reiterate our commitment to customers and ensure further passenger safety with a much more advanced ADAS systems including autonomous emergency braking, speed assist systems, lane assist systems and pedestrian protection safety systems as seen in some of our other models.”
The 2024 MG 5 has the following safety equipment standard across the range:
- Autonomous emergency braking
- Reversing camera
- Rear parking sensors
- Front, front-side and curtain airbags
The Essence adds:
- Surround-view camera
- Rear seat belt reminders
As recently reported, the MG 5 is receiving an option pack that will bring additional safety features towards the end of 2024.
While MG hasn’t confirmed what extra safety equipment will be made available, we can look to China and Thailand for ideas.
In China, where our vehicles are sourced from, the MG 5 can be had with adaptive cruise control, lane-keep assist, intelligent speed assist, and traffic jam assist.
In Thailand, it can also be had with blind-spot monitoring and rear cross-traffic alert. These features can also be found in the Chinese-market MG 5 Scorpio, a sportier counterpart to the regular MG 5.
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