ANCAP awards Skoda Fabia, Jeep Grand Cherokee and Holden Astra five stars

Maximum five-star safety ratings awarded to new Skoda Fabia, Jeep Grand Cherokee and Holden Astra.

ANCAP's latest round of crash testing has brought with it the maximum five-star safety rating for Skoda's new Fabia, the Jeep Grand Cherokee and Holden's rebadged Astra range.

The Fabia was lauded by ANCAP CEO Nicholas Clarke for its inclusion of autonomous emergency braking (AEB) technology as a standard feature across the entire range. AEB is currently rarity in the Skoda's class, even as an option.

A recent international study found that an AEB-equipped car was 38 per cent less likely to be involved in a rear-end collision, with Clarke adding the increased adoption of the safety tech would "contribute to a further reduction in the number and severity of road crashes".

AEB works by monitoring the road ahead of a vehicle, and automatically applying the brakes if it detects an obstruction.

The five-star safety rating applies to all hatch and wagon variants of the Fabia.

Jeep Grand Cherokee V6 models also picked up the maximum safety rating from ANCAP, marking an improvement from the previous four-star rating attained in 2011.

The four-star rating came about as a result of a poor performance in the frontal-offset crash test, where the Grand Cherokee only scored 9.95 out of 16. A minimum score of 12.5 in that test was a requirement for five-star eligibility.

However, V6 models built after March 2013 feature structural and seat design upgrades to help address criticisms of the previous model's dashboard components and seat slide mechanism.

ANCAP has also officially recognised the new Holden Astra, continuing the five-star rating the model previously carried when sold here wearing Opel badges.