Hyundai Staria in ANCAP crash tests: maximum 5 stars, but there are nuances
The Australian ANCAP committee was the first to test the security systems of the new Korean minivan Hyundai Staria. This model will appear in recent times, so it is worth carefully studying the Australian test report.
Hyundai Staria was completely declassified in April of this year, in September its cargo (van) version debuted for the Australian market. 5 ANCAP stars are valid for all versions because the standard equipment of the Staria (at least for Australia and New Zealand) is very rich: a full set of airbags, one of which is located in the center between the front seats, an automatic brake system pedestrians and cyclists, lane keeping system, blind spot monitoring. Will Staria arrive on the market with the same powerful ammunition load? If so, then the Australian 5 stars will also apply to the current version of the model, but, as they say, we’ll see.
The ANCAP testing program replicates the Euro NCAP syllabus in the latest 2020 revision (we detailed it in a separate article), which means it’s quite a difficult list of "exercises" that some former medalists can’t handle. Staria did well, and its 5-star rating was largely due to the good performance of the active safety systems, which will help avoid accidents in a wide range of scenarios. But in terms of crash tests, not everything went as smoothly as we would like.
Staria withstood a new frontal impact, simulating traffic in the oncoming lane, but received 3.09 penalty points for too much weight (up to 2.5 tons in curb condition), which poses an additional threat to other participants in the accident.
A frontal impact against a wall does not pose a threat to the Staria driver, but the fifth percentile passenger dummy (height – 150 cm, weight – 50 kg), sitting in the second row, is lowered below the waist, which is fraught with severe abdominal injuries – red color of the highest degree of danger. In addition, sensors on the little passenger’s chest recorded an orange load level at the limit, which indicates the risk of minor to moderate injuries. Second row headrests are rated C (orange) and may not provide adequate protection against whiplash.
The side impact against the deformable barrier of the Korean van worked perfectly, but the side impact against the risers on the dummy’s chest recorded a high level of brown stress – a high probability of serious injury incompatible with life. But the center airbag has proven effective in side impacts; well protects the driver and front passenger from injury during rebound.
In general, you can be glad for the Australians, they have a good chance of surviving an accident inside the Staria. Hyundai, meanwhile, imports low-equipped cars into Latin America, for which it has been criticized more than once by the Latin NCAP, a local organization that conducts independent crash tests.