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Ford Australia has not confirmed a local launch date for the Mustang Mach-E, but the electric SUV has received a five-star safety rating in neighboring New Zealand.
There is still no confirmed date for the start of Ford Mustang Mach-E sales in Australia, but the North American-made electric SUV received a five-star safety rating in New Zealand from Australasian and European crash test authorities.
The rating from ANCAP covers the rear-wheel drive Ford Mustang Mach-E Select and all-wheel drive Premium models, but the flagship GT AWD model is unrated.
There is some uncertainty over Australian Design Rule compliance for the Mustang Mach-E, as ANCAP testing noted the absence of a top-tether child-restraint anchorage for the middle of the back seat.
“The installation of child restraints in the second row center seating position is not recommended because there is no top tether anchorage,” ANCAP said in its report.
The top-tether situation is one of the hurdles for Ford Australia to clear before it can introduce the car, which was previewed by Drive in September and is likely to arrive in 2023, pending any delays.
Mustang Mach-E sales in New Zealand have been fast-tracked due to the introduction of the country’s Clean Car Standard, a government initiative to force car companies to meet emission reduction targets that came into effect in April 2022 .
As a result of the new emissions regulations, Ford New Zealand is offering a range of hybrid, plug-in hybrid and electric vehicles that it does not sell in Australia – including the upcoming E-Transit van and mild -hybrid version of Puma SUV and Focus hatch.
The Ford Mustang Mach-E is equipped with dual frontal, side chest-protecting and side curtain airbags as standard, as well as a center airbag between the front seats and a driver’s knee airbag.
The Ford Mustang Mach-E also has autonomous emergency braking – with car-to-car, vulnerable road user, junction assist and backover – as well as lane keep assist, lane departure warning, and emergency lane keeping.
Full points were earned by ANCAP for driver protection in side-impact and oblique-pole tests, as well as child occupant protection in side-impact and frontal-offset tests.
ANCAP noted that the front structure of the Mustang Mach-E presented a relatively high risk to the occupants of an oncoming vehicle, and a 3.45 point penalty (out of 4.00) was applied.
The Mustang Mach-E gets good ratings for its lane-keeping and autonomous emergency braking capabilities, but the rear AEB and driver fatigue systems don’t default to ‘ON’ at the start of each journey so don’t points are awarded.
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