Ford’s new Ranger has been subjected to an ANCAP crash test under the latest, tougher safety evaluation protocols. Let’s take a look at how the bakkie fared…

While the new Ford Ranger has yet to launch in South Africa, it is already available Down Under. In fact, Australasia’s independent voice on vehicle safety, ANCAP, has just announced the results of the Blue Oval bakkie’s crash test.

So, how did the new-generation Ranger fare? Well, it scored a safety rating of 5 stars following a full suite of tests conducted in Australia.

Of course, we should point out Australia (and New Zealand) sources its Ranger from Thailand, while the version set to hit the market in South Africa before the end of the year will be produced locally at the Dearborn-based automaker’s Silverton facility. In addition, we can expect some specification differences between the two markets.

Regardless, the results make for very interesting reading. ANCAP awarded the Ranger a score of 84% for adult-occupant protection and 93% for child-occupant protection, along with 74% for vulnerable road-user protection and 83% for its standard safety assistance equipment.

A closer look at the Ranger’s crash-test results

The new Ford Ranger undergoes ANCAP’s side-impact test.

According to ANCAP, the Ranger’s passenger compartment “remained stable” in the frontal offset test. The bakkie furthermore recorded a “solid score” for protection of adult occupants in the frontal offset, side impact and far-side impact tests, though had to settle for a “marginal” score for protection of the rear passenger’s chest in the full-width frontal crash test and for the driver’s chest in the oblique pole test. In addition, the Ranger’s front structure “presented a high risk to occupants of an oncoming vehicle”, resulting in the application of a penalty.

For the record, in Australia and New Zealand, the Ranger ships standard with dual front, side chest-protecting and side head-protecting curtain airbags, as well as a driver and passenger knee airbag. A centre airbag (providing added protection to front-seat occupants in side-impact crashes) is also standard, taking the total to 9 airbags. This version of the Ranger furthermore boasts a range of active collision avoidance systems, scoring “well” in performance tests of autonomous emergency braking, lane-keep assistance and speed assistance.

The safety authority says the 5-star safety rating applies to all Australian-spec variants of the Ranger (built from February 2022) bar the high-performanceRaptor, which for now remains “unrated”. The new Everest, too, was awarded 5 stars, with its safety rating based on testing of the Ranger.