ANCAP has awarded a five-star safety rating to the BYD Seal EV, which was introduced to Australia in October 2023. The rating, scored against 2023 criteria, applies to all variants and was based on testing of left-hand drive models by sister organisation Euro NCAP.
ADULT OCCUPANT PROTECTION
The passenger compartment remained stable in the frontal offset (MPDB) test. Adequate protection was achieved for the chest and lower legs of the driver, while protection for all other critical body regions for the driver and the front passenger was rated good.
The front structure presented a moderate risk to occupants of an oncoming vehicle in the MPDB test (which evaluates vehicle-to-vehicle compatibility), and a 2.33-point penalty was applied.
In the full width frontal test, protection of the driver dummy was adequate for the neck and good for all other critical body regions. Protection of the rear passenger chest was rated adequate, with good protection of all other critical body areas.
In the side impact and the oblique pole tests, protection offered to all critical body regions was good, scoring maximum points in these tests.
The Seal is equipped with a centre airbag to protect against occupant-to-occupant interaction in side impacts and it provided good protection for the head of both front seat occupants. Prevention of excursion (movement towards the other side of the vehicle) in the far side impact tests was assessed as adequate for both the vehicle-to-vehicle impact scenario and the vehicle-to-pole scenario.
A rescue sheet providing information for first responders in the event of a crash is available, and a multi-collision braking system is fitted. It was also demonstrated that if the car entered water, the doors would remain functional for the minimum required time period.
CHILD OCCUPANT PROTECTION
In the frontal offset and side impact tests, protection of the 10-year and six-year dummies was good and maximum points were scored in these tests.
The Seal is fitted with lower ISOFix anchorages on the rear outboard seats and top tether anchorages for all rear seating positions. A direct child presence detection system, which provides an alert when a child has been left in the vehicle, is fitted to all passenger seats as standard. However, the system did not meet ANCAP’s requirements and was not rewarded with points.
All of the selected child restraints could be accommodated in all rear seating positions and full points were scored for this assessment.
VULNERABLE ROAD USER PROTECTION
In physical impact tests, protection offered to the head of a pedestrian striking the bonnet, or cyclist striking the windscreen was predominantly adequate, with marginal and poor results recorded at the base of the windscreen and on the stiff windscreen pillars. Protection of the pelvis and femurs was good, and protection of the lower legs was also good.
The autonomous emergency braking (AEB) system is capable of detecting and reacting to vulnerable road users such as pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists. Testing of this system showed good performance in pedestrian test scenarios, including turning, with collisions avoided or mitigated in most tests. However, marginal performance was recorded in reverse (AEB back over) scenarios.
Good performance was achieved in cyclist test scenarios with collisions avoided or mitigated at all test speeds including in the turning scenarios. However, marginal performance was seen in the cyclist ‘dooring’ scenarios, where only a warning is provided to alert the driver of a passing cyclist.
Good performance was also seen in the AEB motorcycle tests, including in the turning and in overtaking scenarios, earning full points.
SAFETY ASSIST
In addition to AEB, which is capable of functioning at highway speeds, the Seal is fitted with a lane support system with lane keep assist, lane departure warning (LDW) and blind spot monitoring.
Tests of the AEB (car-to-car) system showed good performance with collisions avoided or mitigated in most test scenarios, with good and adequate performance in AEB junction and AEB crossing scenarios where the test vehicle can autonomously brake to avoid crashes when turning across or into the path of an oncoming vehicle.
Assessment of the AEB head-on system functionality showed marginal performance.
Tests of lane support system functionality showed good performance, including in several of the more critical emergency lane keeping test scenarios.
The Seal has a speed assistance system with speed limit information function fitted as standard, informing the driver of the local speed limit and allowing the driver to accept the change in speed accordingly. Intelligent adaptive cruise control is also standard, as is an indirect driver monitoring system (DMS) detecting driver drowsiness (a direct DMS is unavailable).
Additionally, a seatbelt reminder system with occupancy detection is fitted to all seating positions.