Testing trifecta for BYD: 2024 BYD Seal and Dolphin electric cars both score top marks for safety

The second and third cars to be tested under ANCAP's new criteria are both electric cars from China's increasingly popular BYD, and both have passed safety testing with flying colours.

The 2024 BYD Seal and BYD Dolphin both scored five stars under the tougher new criteria, which was first applied to the Lexus RZ that also scored five stars last month.

The BYD Seal sedan and the Dolphin hatchback now join BYD's first model in Australia, the Atto 3, in being awarded five stars for safety by ANCAP, or the Australasian New Car Assessment Program.

The BYD Dolphin hatch, which starts from $38,890 before on-road costs, scored a mix of "'Good' and 'Adequate' protection for adult occupants in crash tests" for its size, though 'Marginal' protection offered to the driver's chest was noted in the frontal offset test.

The Dolphin scored maximum points for the all-important "protection to child occupants" in both frontal and side impact tests.

The Seal sedan, starting from $49,888, "achieved full points for protection of the driver and child passengers in the side impact test and the driver in the oblique pole test".

ANCAP found 'Adequate' driver's chest and lower legs protection in the frontal offset test, and for rear passenger chest in the full width test.

Both models are fitted with centre airbags that ANCAP found were effective in "minimising injury from head contact between front seat occupants or contact with the intruding side of the vehicle in side impact crashes".

ANCAP introduced the new criteria for this year to account for previously untested situational dangers such as cars becoming submerged in water, as well as improvements in safety tech like "ability to detect a cyclist passing the vehicle from the rear" to avoid 'dooring' a passing rider.

While both cars passed the requirements for 'door opening' functionality for the submerging test where "if the car entered water, the doors would remain functional for the minimum required time period (two minutes) after vehicle power is lost", neither was able to demonstrate window opening functionality.

Both cars also demonstrated functional "anti-dooring systems" to avoid opening a door into the path of a cyclist in that they "provide an audible warning" though neither actually prevented the occupant from opening the door, only alerting them.

Full safety testing information is published on the ANCAP website.