2022 Polestar 2 awarded five-star ANCAP rating

The 2022 Polestar 2 electric vehicle has been given a top safety rating by crash-test authority ANCAP, despite showing there was a high risk of injury for occupants if involved in a far side collision with another vehicle.

The independent safety body has today awarded a five-star safety rating to all three variants of the electric Polestar 2, which entered the Australian market late last year and went on sale to the general public just last week.

The Polestar 2 is the fifth battery-electric vehicle (BEV) to be tested against ANCAP’s new 2020-2022 criteria, adding to a total of 43 BEV, PHEV, hybrid and hydrogen powered vehicles rated to date, the authority also revealed.

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High scores were achieved by the Polestar 2 in all crash tests, with full points awarded for adult and child occupants in the side impact category, which simulates the effects of a T-bone crash. Overall, for adult and child protection the car notched up 35.22/38 points and 43.03/49 respectively.

In the adult category some issues were raised, including protection offered for the lower-leg in the frontal offset test, rear passenger chest in the full width frontal, and driver’s chest in the oblique pole being dubbed just ‘adequate’.

The Polestar 2 also scored well in the assessment area of vulnerable road user protection, achieving an 80 per cent mark of 43.54/54 – though it was ‘adequate’ and even ‘poor’ in some areas, such as near the windscreen pillars and the base of the windscreen.

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With an active bonnet, ANCAP said the Polestar 2 provides increased protection to struck pedestrians, and its autonomous emergency braking (AEB) system is also effective in reacting to pedestrians and cyclists. However, the authority added that the AEB system does not react to pedestrians in reverse, so was also considered ‘adequate’, and AEB backover tests were not carried out.

Good scores were also shown in far side impact tests. The Polestar 2 was however penalised for vehicle-to-vehicle compatibility, as it was shown to provide a “high risk of injury to occupants of a collision partner vehicle when struck”.

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Kitted out with lane support systems, including emergency lane keeping and lake keep assist, the 2 chalked up good scores here too – with the safety authority explaining active lane support systems have been shown to reduce head-on and single-vehicle crashes by approximately 30 per cent.

“Today’s consumers are looking to purchase vehicles with top safety and environmental credentials. The well-rounded Polestar 2 ticks these boxes and adds to the suite of five-star rated EVs now available to Australasian consumers,” said ANCAP Chief Executive Officer, Carla Hoorweg.

“ANCAP safety ratings are designed to encourage vehicles to provide good protection to vehicle occupants and other road users, and the Polestar 2 has performed well across all areas of assessment.”