Volkswagen Group Australia is questioning the withdrawal by ANCAP of a five-star safety rating for the Passat sedan and wagon this year, given that more safety technology has been added to car since its introduction in 2015.
The brand says the Passat is favoured by both emergency services and family buyers and has more than doubled its standard safety specification since its introduction.
According to Volkswagen passenger vehicles brand director Michal Szaniecki the 2022 Passat sedan and wagon range has taken enormous strides in terms of active and passive safety since the current generation’s introduction in 2015.
The Australasian New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP) has decided that the Passat’s five star rating will expire this year. That rating, awarded in 2015, rubber-stamped the assessment made in the previous year by the internationally respected European New Car Assessment Program (EURO NCAP) according to Volkswagen Group Australia.
It says ANCAP conducts no crash testing of European vehicles on sale in in this market, instead conducting a perfunctory inspection.
Volkswagen Group Australia says the 2015 Passat featured adaptive cruise control with follow and stop, rear traffic alert, front assist (high and low speed AEB), lane assist and side assist. These items were standard in the upper grades, but optional on the entry variant.
From 2020, not only did these items become standard across range, the following fixtures also become standard on all Passat variants:
- 360° Proactive Occupant Protection
- Manoeuvre braking front and rear (auto braking at parking speed)
- Travel Assist (adaptive lane guidance for semi-autonomous driving at low and high speeds)
- Emergency Assist
- Pedestrian Monitoring
“Just as ANCAP has elsewhere rightly pointed out the absence of safety technology, why would it fail to account for active and passive safety upgrades that bring a model to the forefront of occupant and bystander technology? Szaniecki says.
“It is unclear if ANCAP withdraws ratings at a specified point merely for administrative convenience. It is clear that the Passat has embodied ANCAP’s previously stated ideal that a model should become safer throughout its lifecycle,” he says.
