Popular family SUV and van learn safety fate

A best-selling SUV and van have retained their five-star Australasian New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP) safety rating.

The ANCAP rating looked at the 2026 Mitsubishi Outlander and Toyota HiAce reconfirming their safe status.

The Mitsubishi Outlander has been a popular choice with family buyers, selling more than 15,000 examples up to August 2025. 

Key to the Outlander retaining its rating were several safety upgrades including improvements to restraints, centre airbag effectiveness and whiplash performance. A direct driver monitoring system, vehicle detection scenarios and lane support functionality also contributed to its rating. 

For protection it scored 85 per cent for adults and 84 per cent for children performing at a ‘good’ standard for frontal offset and side impact. However, it was considered weak for rear passengers in full width frontal contact showing significant damage to head, neck and chest. 

Of concern for children travelling in the back is that protection of the neck was poor for a 10-year-old dummy and marginal for 6-year-olds in the frontal offset test but there was good protection for other critical body regions. 

The Outlander earned 79 per cent for vulnerable road user protection and 70 per cent for safety assist. 

The Toyota HiAce has been dominant in the small vans market with almost 7000 sales up to August 2025 - by far the most of any option. 

It scored 80 per cent for adult and 86 per cent for child occupant protection, while scoring 87 per cent for vulnerable road user protection and 81 per cent for safety assist. 

The HiAce suffered on the full width frontal test, ANCAP noted protection of the driver’s chest was minimal, but performed better on side impact and oblique pole testing. 

Among safety upgrades to the HiAce is a centre airbag to reduce occupant-to-occupant injury and self-driving safety features such as lane keeping and adaptive cruise control. It also has a tweaked emergency braking system and can respond to pedestrians and cyclists. 

ANCAP Chief Executive Officer Carla Hoorweg said both cars had embraced the ongoing improvement and necessity for safety to continually evolve. 

“These reassessments confirm that the Toyota HiAce and Mitsubishi Outlander remain some of the safest fleet and family models on the market — five stars then, five stars now, despite tougher tests,” Hoorweg said.