The Ford Mustang was one of the best-selling sports cars in the world when Australia’s ANCAP crash test authority handed it a rare and damaging result: just 2 out of 5 stars. Weak airbag performance, a door that opened in the pole test, and a near-total absence of modern driver aids all factored into the score. Here’s what the testing found, and how Ford eventually responded.
FORD’S Mustang sports car has been awarded a dismal 2 star ANCAP safety rating, raising concerns about the strong-selling car’s ability to protect its occupants.
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Full article:Â https://goo.gl/m28yxg
A car that had just become one of the best-selling sports cars on the planet was about to get some of the worst safety news of its life. When crash test authority ANCAP put the Ford Mustang through its standard battery of evaluations, the result wasn’t a near-miss or a borderline call — it was a rating so low that industry watchers were genuinely surprised Ford let the car go to market unchanged. The details of what went wrong in testing explain exactly why the rating landed where it did — and why Ford eventually had no choice but to respond.
What ANCAP Actually Found
The Ford Mustang, first sold in right-hand-drive Australia and New Zealand in 2015, was awarded just 2 out of 5 stars when ANCAP published its results in January 2017 — a rating driven by poor performance in adult occupant protection, child occupant protection, and safety assist technology. In frontal offset testing, both the driver and front passenger airbags inflated insufficiently, allowing the driver’s head to strike the steering wheel and the passenger’s head to reach the dashboard. The pole test revealed an even more alarming issue: the driver’s door opened on impact, a failure that raised serious questions about protection in a side collision.
The Tech That Was Simply Missing
Beyond the physical crash results, ANCAP flagged the Mustang’s near-total absence of modern driver assistance systems as a major concern — no autonomous emergency braking, no forward collision warning, no lane support systems, and no rear seatbelt reminders, all of which had become common on rivals by 2017. For a car marketed globally and sold in huge numbers, the gap between the Mustang’s driving experience and its safety technology stood out as unusually wide.
Ford’s Response — and a Partial Fix
Following the backlash, Ford revised the specification of Mustang models built for Australia and New Zealand starting in December 2017, and the Fastback V8 and EcoBoost coupe variants were subsequently upgraded to a 3-star rating. It wasn’t a perfect fix, but it showed that public pressure from an independent safety body could move a manufacturer that might otherwise have left the car unchanged for years.
Share your thoughts in the comments below.
Republished by Blog Post Promoter
Related posts:
Muscle Car News: Muscle car explosion sets off Novato house fire
Muscle Car News: The Muscle Car of the Future
Muscle Car News: A golden find: One-owner muscle car heads to estate auction
Muscle Car News: The World’s Largest Collector-Car Auction
Muscle Car News: Dodge Charger SRT Hellcat: Dodge rules new era muscle car
Muscle Car News: Tesla Delivers 17400 Vehicles in Fourth Quarter
Muscle Car News: Classic Recreations Shelby Mustang gets EcoBoost power
Muscle Car News: For $55000, This Rare AMC Rebel Machine Seems Like a Steal
Muscle Car News: Andre Gordon’s ’71 Dodge Dart swinger has racing set-up
Will Santa bring you a muscle car for Christmas?
1star for keeping pedestrians safe on the sidewalk
Well they are already a danger to everybody outside of the car
Hmmm sounds right to me demon’s are dangerous even in the 1970’s their bodies crumpled like this when you hit a wall at high speed the sudden stop is twice the speed the car is traveling at the impact speed of a car traveling at 80 miles an hour becomes 180 miles an hour on impact with a standing object like a brick wall