Three Subaru models have been awarded top safety marks in the Japan New Car Assessment Program (JNCAP) assessment.
The 2019 Subaru Forester won the Grand Prix Award for earning the highest score in the JNCAP collision safety performance assessment, conducted by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism and the National Agency for Automotive Safety and Victim’s Aid in Japan.
Subaru Corporation also announced Forester received the Advanced Safety Vehicle Triple Plus rating, which was the highest rating in the 2018-2019 JNCAP preventive safety performance assessment. The Subaru XV and Impreza models received the same triple plus rating in the 2018-2019 JNCAP.
Subaru of New Zealand Managing Director Wallis Dumper says these awards demonstrate Subaru’s commitment to its all-around safety principle.
“All our New Zealand-new Subaru models have five-star ANCAP (Australasian New Car Assessment Program) safety ratings and it’s just further proof of our All-Wheel Drive brand’s commitment to looking after Kiwi drivers on our roads that the Forester, XV and Impreza have received this equivalent recognition from Subaru Corporation in Japan,” he says.
“Although these awards are for the Japanese specification models, all New Zealand-new Subarus are manufactured in the same factory using the same architecture,” Mr Dumper adds.
The new Forester, which was named the 2018 New Zealand Car of the Year by the New Zealand Motoring Writers’ Guild is built on the new Subaru Global Platform. The platform enhances passenger protection with improved energy absorption compared to previous generations of the family-friendly SUV model. Combined with the optimised body structure and layout of high-tensile steels, Forester has enhanced passenger protection for frontal, side and rear-end impacts with minimal weight increase.
The 2019 Forester also features a pedestrian protection airbag as standard equipment.
Subaru Forester, XV and Impreza all have autonomous braking functions, driver alerts, adaptive cruise control and lane-keep assist. These features combine to form Subaru’s award-winning EyeSight crash avoidance technology, which uses two cameras that are like the driver’s second pair of eyes, spotting potentially dangerous driving situations. This clever technology processes three-dimensional images captured by cameras mounted at the top of the windscreen to provide audible and visual warnings to prompt the driver to take action. EyeSight will also apply automatic braking intervention, when necessary, to help avoid or reduce the severity of a detected frontal collision.
In New Zealand-new Subarus, EyeSight technology is standard across the range except in the manual WRX and STI.
Find out more about our Subaru models here: https://www.subaru.co.nz/showroom