Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Evaluates Safety of 11 Vehicle Models
10 Models Receive Top Grade 1
G80, Trailblazer, GV80 Achieve Highest Scores by Category
2 Models Besides G80 Excluded from 'Excellent Cars' Due to Recall Issues
Audi Q7 Alone Receives Failing Grade 5
Cause Attributed to Lack of Rear Seatbelt Safety Assist Device
[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Chun-hee] Among the 11 newly released and imported car models in Korea this year, Hyundai Motor's Genesis G80 was recognized as the safest car.
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT) announced on the 31st that the Genesis G80 was selected as an excellent car in the mid-to-large sedan category in this year's vehicle safety evaluation. MOLIT evaluates the crash safety and other aspects of newly sold cars every year and publishes the results.
This year's target models included 8 domestic models (▲Kia K5, Sorento, Carnival ▲Chevrolet Trailblazer ▲Hyundai Avante, Genesis G80, GV80 ▲Renault Samsung XM3) and 3 imported models (▲Renault Captur ▲Mercedes-Benz A220 ▲Audi Q7). Newly released cars and those with high sales volumes were selected as target models.
As a result of combining evaluations in three safety areas?collision, pedestrian, and accident prevention?10 out of the 11 models, except for the Audi Q7 which received a grade 5 in the comprehensive evaluation, all received a grade 1.
G80 Selected as 'Excellent Car'... Trailblazer and GV80 Excluded from Excellence Due to Recalls
In particular, the Genesis G80 was selected as the '2020 Vehicle Safety Evaluation Excellent Car' by ranking first in the mid-to-large sedan category with a comprehensive score of 97.3 points. The G80 achieved the highest scores among the 11 evaluated models in each category: ▲Collision Safety 60 points (out of 60) ▲Pedestrian Safety 18.6 points (out of 20) ▲Accident Prevention Safety 18.7 points (out of 20).
The G80 is equipped with an 'Active Hood' that lifts the hood upon pedestrian collision to reduce impact, enhancing pedestrian safety. In the accident prevention safety category, it received high marks for installing all advanced safety devices except for the intelligent speed limiter.
MOLIT had planned to select excellent cars in the mid-size SUV and large SUV categories as well, but the Trailblazer (90.8 points) and GV80 (92.5 points), which received the highest scores in their respective categories, were excluded from the excellent car selection due to recall records.
An MOLIT official explained, "Considering social impact and other factors, vehicles subject to manufacturing defects and those under investigation were excluded from awards." Chevrolet Trailblazer had one recall related to the electronic hydraulic brake booster, and the GV80 had three recalls related to ▲lane change assist function ▲drivable range ▲high-pressure pump.
Audi Q7 Embarrassed by Changed Evaluation Criteria... Audi Plans Improvements
This year, MOLIT introduced a capping system in the collision evaluation, where if the impact exceeds the upper limit of human injury risk to key body parts such as the head and chest of occupants, the evaluation item is scored zero to reduce the risk of serious injury.
The introduction of this system played a decisive role in the Audi Q7 being the only model to receive a grade 5 among the evaluated vehicles. In the frontal collision safety evaluation, the head injury criterion for the rear-seat female dummy exceeded the upper limit, resulting in a zero score for frontal collision safety.
Consequently, the Q7 scored 41.3 points (68.8%) in collision safety and received a comprehensive grade 5 (70.4 points). MOLIT explained, "Although the comprehensive score of 70.4 corresponds to grade 3 based on the overall grading criteria, it was assigned grade 5 because it failed to meet the minimum collision safety standard required for each grade." A collision safety score below 69% results in a grade 5.
Since the Audi Q7 received the highest 5-star rating in European safety evaluations, this result is a shock for Audi. The low rating is attributed to the absence of a 'Pretensioner' on the rear seat seatbelts. The pretensioner enhances seatbelt effectiveness by instantly retracting the belt upon collision to reduce forward movement of passengers. The same model sold in Europe is equipped with this pretensioner device.
Audi Volkswagen Korea stated, "We plan to improve safety by installing pretensioners on the rear seats of the Q7 by the first half of next year."
Additionally, from this year, MOLIT added evaluation items for cyclist detection emergency automatic braking system (Cyclist AEBS) and nighttime pedestrian emergency automatic braking system (Night AEBS) to strengthen the safety of various vulnerable road users beyond pedestrians. Among the 11 models, 10 were equipped with cyclist detection emergency automatic braking, achieving an average score of 79 points. All 11 models confirmed functionality of the nighttime pedestrian emergency automatic braking system.
There were also changes in evaluation items due to technological advancements. In the accident prevention safety category, the forward collision warning system was replaced by the emergency automatic braking system, and the lane departure warning system was replaced by the lane keeping assist system. Although the advanced safety device evaluation items were upgraded, the installation rate of these devices increased. Notably, emergency automatic braking systems were installed as standard on all evaluated models, and the basic installation rate for vehicles produced since last year rose from 57.3% last year to 75.5% this year, an increase of 18.2 percentage points.
Yoon Jin-hwan, Director of Automobile Policy at MOLIT, stated, "Next year, as the variety and sales of electric vehicles increase, we plan to select electric vehicles as evaluation models and assess risks such as fire and explosion of the drive battery and high-voltage electric shock hazards during collisions." Detailed results of this vehicle safety evaluation can be found on the Vehicle Safety Evaluation website. Test videos are also available on the YouTube KNCAP channel.
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