The Renault Duster, known as the Dacia Duster overseas, has retained the three-star result awarded by Euro NCAP, while MG's premium IM5 and IM6 have been given five-star ANCAP safety ratings.
The Renault Duster small SUV has carried across its three-star safety rating from Europe for Australia, while two new vehicles from MG’s luxury IM sub-brand have received the top rating.
While full points were awarded for the Duster's protection of the driver in the oblique pole crash test and for the driver and child passengers in the side impact test, the frontal offset and full-width tests yielded more mixed results.
In the mobile progressive deformable barrier (MPDB) test, the Duster was found to only offer weak protection for the driver’s chest.
And the SUV was also marked down for not coming with a centre airbag.
Furthermore, although the Duster is equipped with an autonomous emergency braking (AEB) system, in more advanced testing and at higher speeds, it was found to be less effective, failing to respond to an overtaking or oncoming vehicle in emergency lane-keeping scenarios.
As a result, it received a 60 per cent score for vulnerable road user protection and just 58 per cent for its safety assist technology, making it impossible to get anything higher than a three-star rating.
The Dacia/Renault has a reputation for being a cheap and cheerful proposition overseas, but in recent years having a five-star ANCAP result for Australia has become almost essential for car makers in order to attract buyers, especially fleet customers, for many of whom top marks are essential.
In contrast to the Duster, in the most recent round of testing, ANCAP evaluated the IM5 and IM6 which were both awarded five stars.
The fully electric model performed strongly in all crash tests, achieving one of the highest frontal offset (MPDB) test scores to date under current ANCAP protocols (7.54/8).
The IM5 delivered an equally confident result, combining strong structural performance with effective crash restraint systems. In addition to providing solid protection for adult occupants, it achieved a 91 per cent score for children too in both frontal and side collisions.
In a statement, ANCAP said both luxury models had impressed in their ability to reliably respond to pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists in both autonomous emergency braking (AEB) straight-line and turning scenarios.
In a dig at parent company MG, however, ANCAP’s CEO said the authority would like to see the standard of safety raised across all of its models and not just the high-end ones.
“The safety ratings for the premium IM5 and IM6 demonstrate MG’s ability to deliver vehicle safety at a high level. It’s encouraging to see this level of performance, and we hope to see these features carried across the broader MG range,” ANCAP Chief Executive Officer Carla Hoorweg said.
Earlier this year, it gave the MG 3 a four-star result, and the MG 5 just three stars, while in 2024, the authority awarded the MG ZS four stars as well.
Drive has contacted Renault and MG and will update this story if a response is received.
A born-and-bred newshound, Kathryn has worked her way up through the ranks reporting for, and later editing, two renowned UK regional newspapers and websites, before moving on to join the digital newsdesk of one of the world’s most popular newspapers – The Sun. More recently, she’s done a short stint in PR in the not-for-profit sector, and led the news team at Wheels Media.
