Colorado, CR-V, Protons Shine in ASEAN Safety Tests

The Chevrolet Colorado is awarded five stars while the no-airbag Kia Picanto gets no stars as the New Car Assessment Program for Southeast Asian Countries ends its pilot phase.

The Honda CR-V and the home-grown Proton Prevé – along with its hatchback version, the Proton Suprima S – also receive five stars.

Another iteration of the Picanto, a front-engine, front-wheel-drive model with six airbags, was given four stars for both adult and child protection. Versions of the CR-V and Colorado without electronic stability control were downgraded to four stars for adult-occupant protection.

In all 11 cars underwent ASEAN NCAP testing, including the Volkswagen Polo, Chevrolet Sonic, Toyota Corolla Altis, Toyota Corolla Altis 2.0 (with optional safety package for Malaysia’s market), Honda CR-V, Isuzu D-Max, Peugeot 208, Kia Picanto and Kia Picanto non-airbag version.

Hyundai was among the lowest scorers, with its i10 earning only two stars.

The Chevrolet Sonic rated four stars for both adult and child protection.

ASEAN NCAP, the latest addition to the NCAP organizations around the world, aims to enhance safety standards, raise consumer awareness and encourage a market for safer vehicles in the Southeast Asia region.

“ASEAN NCAP is proud to conclude that it has achieved one of its strategic approaches, which is to ensure all major OEMs’ cars are tested under the ASEAN NCAP regime,” the group says in a statement.

It says the third phase of the pilot program achieved a number of firsts. These included the first left-hand-drive car tested by ASEAN NCAP, the Thailand-built Honda CR-V for the Philippines market.

The Colorado was tested in the Korea Automobile Testing & Research Institute crash lab, one of three official test laboratories for ASEAN NCAP along with the Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research site in Melaka, Malaysia, and the Japan Automobile Research Institute facility in Tsukuba, Japan.

Two pickups, the Colorado and the Isuzu D-Max (four stars for both adult and child protection), were tested on the same day at JARI and KATRI, respectively, to become the first pickups in ASEAN NCAP’s list of tested vehicles.

The five-star adult rating for the Toyota Corolla Altis 2.0, available for Malaysia’s market only, was adopted from the Australasian NCAP test at JARI. The particular variant is produced in Thailand for Australia’s market as well as for Malaysia.

ASEAN NCAP says it is facing logistics problems in bringing cars from various ASEAN markets into Malaysia to be tested at the crash laboratory in Melaka. But it says more cars, especially those with less safety equipment, will be tested monthly in the upcoming normal operation of ASEAN NCAP.

Chinese and Indian makes are yet to be tested in ASEAN NCAP, but the group says it expects one or two results from cars from those countries will be released in August.