MG 4 electric hatch earns five-star ANCAP safety rating

The MG 4 has earned a five-star rating from ANCAP ahead of its arrival in local showrooms this month.

The five-star rating is based on Euro NCAP testing conducted under the outgoing 2020-22 rating criteria, and thus far applies only to single-motor rear-wheel drive models.

The MG 4 received an adult occupant protection rating of 83 per cent, a child occupant protection rating of 86 per cent, a vulnerable road user protection rating of 75 per cent, and a safety assist rating of 81 per cent.

ANCAP said it recorded strong scores for the protection of child occupants in the front and side impact crash tests.

It also said it awarded maximum points to the MG 4 for its protection of adult occupants in the side impact and oblique pole tests, noting its strong structural performance.

A mix of Good, Adequate and Marginal results were recorded in the full-width frontal and frontal offset tests.

It observed there was excessive forward movement of the rear passenger dummy in the full-width frontal tests, and the potential for hard contact to the driver’s knees in the frontal offset test.

The latter test was also used to assess vehicle-to-vehicle compatibility, and ANCAP observed the MG 4 presents a relatively low injury risk to occupants of an oncoming vehicle. A “modest” penalty of 0.69 points was applied.

There’s no centre airbag to prevent contact between front seat occupants, and the prevention of excursion – or the movement to the other side of the vehicle – was deemed Adequate in the vehicle-to-vehicle scenario and Poor in the vehicle-to-pole scenario.

In terms of the MG’s active safety and driver assist technology, there were Good results recorded for the autonomous emergency braking system’s performance in cyclist and some car-to-car test scenarios, while the lane-keep assist was also graded as Good.

Mixed results, in contrast, were recorded for the AEB system’s pedestrian detection abilities, while emergency lane-keeping scenarios resulted only in Adequate ratings. The AEB system also lacks a reverse function.

The MG 4 is the first product from the brand to earn five stars under the 2020-22 testing protocols.

It follows the GWM Ora in earning five stars from ANCAP. The other member of the affordable Chinese electric hatchback trio, the BYD Dolphin, has yet to be assessed.

All MG 4 models in Australia come standard with the following:

AEB with pedestrian and cyclist detectionAdaptive cruise controlDriver attention monitoringIntelligent speed limit assistLane-keep assistLane departure warningTraffic Jam AssistTraffic sign recognition

The Essence adds:

Blind-spot monitoringRear cross-traffic alertSafe exit warningSurround-view camera

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