Suzuki’s first electric wins praise, but also loses out for falling short on adult occupancy protection lapse.

INABILITY to fully impress the national crash test auditor continues for Suzuki, with fault being found in the most recent product to be assessed, the make’s first electric car.

Australasian New Car Assessment Programme, which bases in Australia but is part-funded by New Zealand agencies and whose ratings hold highest standing here, has announced a score of four out of a possible five stars for the e-Vitara that went on sale this week.

The organisation says while the battery electric small sports utility vehicle demonstrated sound capability in most areas of safety performance, it’s overall rating was constrained by its Adult Occupant Protection score, with results ranging from good to weak noted in the full width test.

The Suzuki e-Vitara is not fitted with a head-protecting centre airbag to reduce injury to occupants in side impact crashes.

Suzuki has been troubled to please ANCAP for several years.

Its latest Swift was originally a one star car, only lifting to three when some assists were emboldened, and the Fronx compact petrol SUV it released last year received a single star, plus was also faulted for a rear seat belt malfunction that removed it from sale at end of December, with reinstatement coming coming just a fortnight ago.

ANCAP Chief Executive Officer, Carla Hoorweg, said the e-Vitara’s result reflects what level of performance is now required to achieve the highest safety rating.

She inferred four stars out of five is still a reasonable outcome.

“It’s encouraging to see improvements in safety performance across the market, this latest rating achieved by the e Vitara is evidence Suzuki can produce a model that offers sound levels of safety performance,” Ms Hoorweg said.

“These outcomes show that higher levels of safety are within reach, and that continued focus on delivering consistent performance across all areas is key to achieving the highest rating.”

Ratings were also today issued for the new Audi Q3, with it receiving five stars, and updated A3, Cupra Leon and Nissan Qashqai.

The latter were reconsidered following specification changes and reassessment against eligible criteria.

The A3 and Leon each retain five-star ratings, with ANCAP deciding both models continue to offer a high level of safety performance across all areas of assessment.

Having previously been considered worthy of five stars, Qashqai been reassessed to a four-star rating. Child occupant protection remains a strong suit for the updated Qashqai, however its safety performance in other assessment areas was not able to keep pace with contemporary five-star levels.