The list of safe cars that New Zealand families can choose from has grown after the latest Land Rover Discovery achieved a 5 star ANCAP safety rating across all its diesel variants.

The large SUV takes a 360 degree approach to safety, not only performing strongly in adult and child occupant protection in the event of a crash, but also earning good results for pedestrian protection.

“While we expect a vehicle of this size to do well in terms of occupant safety, it’s great to see Land Rover adding safety features like Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB) for vulnerable road users as standard,” says AA Motoring Services General Manager Stella Stocks.

“This helps protect pedestrians and cyclists by aiming to stop the vehicle before a crash can happen, helping to make our roads safer for everyone on them.”

The Discovery stacks up well against other large SUVs in terms of the safety assist technologies it includes as standard. These help to both avoid crashes and protect occupants should a crash occur.

In addition to AEB the Discovery comes with lane departure warning, which alerts the driver when the vehicle begins to move out of its lane, and reversing collision avoidance systems. Not included in New Zealand variants is intelligent speed limiting (ISA) and speed sign recognition and warning, but they are on European models.

“While the New Zealand variant of the Discovery is a good, safe car, we still urge manufacturers to give New Zealand motorists the same level of consideration when it comes to safety as our European counterparts,” says Ms Stocks.

While the Discovery did well across the crash tests there was however insufficient pressure in the driver’s airbag which saw the dummy’s head hit the steering wheel and a penalty was applied in the scoring.

Ms Stocks says that with so many safe cars now in the New Zealand market, picking a safe one that works for your needs and at the right price is so much easier.

“Manufacturers are definitely coming on board to do their part in the safety stakes. Now we need drivers to do the same by ensuring safety is prioritised right up there with price when buying their next car,” she says.

The full list of ANCAP’s vehicle safety ratings, other vehicle safety information and the specifications of the rated vehicles are available online at ancap.co.nz or rightcar.govt.nz

ANCAP is supported by all Australian motoring clubs, the New Zealand Automobile Association, the Australian Government, the New Zealand Government, Australian state and territory governments, the Victorian Transport Accident Commission, NRMA Insurance and the FIA Foundation.