Updated Ford Mustang a bit safer
assistance aids such as AEB and lane keep assist is a definite step in the right direction, yet these upgrades have neglected to address the injury risk posed to rear-seat occupants as well as whiplash protection,’’ Goodwin said.
According to the report, a rearseat adult passenger suffered from excessive shoulder belt load in the 50kmh full-width frontal crash test, while the 64kmh frontal offset test saw the front airbags not inflating sufficiently to prevent both the driver’s and front passenger’s heads from bottoming out through them.
Similarly, the 50kmh side impact test saw the 10-year-old child dummy’s head making impact with the C-pillar through the side airbag, losing it points there.
The 6-year-old dummy achieved ‘‘good’’ and ‘‘adequate’’ ratings in all tests, but the poorer performance of the larger dummy was the main contributor to the Mustang only scoring 15.79 points out of a possible 49 points.
Overall, the 2018 Mustang delivered a five-star result for safety assist and pedestrian protection, and a four-star result for adult occupant protection.
However, the three-star result for child occupant protection limited the overall result to a three-star rating.
‘‘Safety is one of the highest priorities in the design of our vehicles at Ford Motor Company,’’ said Ford New Zealand spokesman Tom Clancy.
‘‘The Mustang is a safe vehicle, equipped with advanced safety features, with a structure designed to manage crash energy under a variety of crash modes.
‘‘The vehicle has already proven its high level of safety in tests at the NHTSA’s New Car Assessment Program (NCAP) in the US, where it earned a five-star overall vehicle score and the US IIHS, coming close to earning a top safety pick.’’
Of course, the big question is: has the Mustang’s poor safety rating affected sales here?
Clancy’s response is that it is difficult to say.
‘‘The Mustang has proven a huge success in New Zealand, however the ANCAP rating is something we have worked on for 2018, with autonomous emergency braking with pedestrian detection as standard on every Mustang.’’
The three-star ANCAP safety rating applies to Fastback (V8 and EcoBoost coupe) variants built from December 2017.
Fastback variants sold from December 2015 through to those built in December 2017 hold a twostar ANCAP safety rating. Convertible variants are unrated.