In 2002, the Subaru Forester was the first vehicle to ever score a 5-star ANCAP rating. Seventeen years later in 2019 the vehicle has yet again scored 5 stars in the latest ANCAP safety tests, as it has in every test since. Congratulations Subaru, and this hasn’t been easy because as time goes on the safety standards become higher and higher, so a 2002 Forester wouldn’t be scoring 5 stars by 2019 standards.
Today, scoring a 5-star rating not only requires fundamentally good crashworthiness, but standard fitment of an increasingly complex array of active and passive safety electronics.
In ANCAP’s words – “to achieve a 5-star ANCAP safety rating from 2013, cars must be equipped with ESC, three-point seat belts for all forward-facing seats, head-protecting technology (side airbags) for front seats, seat belt reminders for front seats and electronic brakeforce distribution (EBD) as well as three additional safety assist technologies (SAT) such as autonomous emergency braking (AEB), adaptive cruise control (ACC), blind spot monitoring (BSM), etc.”
