Second-Gen MG HS SUV Gets 5-Star ANCAP Safety Rating

The non-hybrid, second-gen MG HS SUV has gained a five-star score for the ANCAP safety rating.

Months after making its global debut in the UK, the second-gen MG HS has been put to the test in the Land Down Under. For the Australasian New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP), this family SUV has gained a five-star safety rating, at least for the non-hybrid variant.

Instead of the hybrid, ANCAP had tested the full ICE variant of the new HS, which uses a 1.5-litre 4-cyl turbocharged petrol engine rated at 168 HP and 275 NM, where it was tested according to the latest 2023-25 criteria. Overall, the new MG HS managed to score 90% for the Adult Occupant Protection category, 87% for the Child Occupant Protection category, 83% for vulnerable road user protection, and 89% for safety assistance.

More details on this test, the new HS SUV has received “strong scores” for its pedestrian impact testing, full points for its side-impact, oblique pole, whiplash protection, and far-side impact tests, and ‘good’ protection of all critical body regions for child occupant testing. However, a mixed score was garnered for the HS’ protection of the pelvis for vulnerable road users, while the reverse autonomous emergency braking system in 4 KM/H and 8 KM/H tests was rated as ‘marginal’.

A ‘marginal’ score was also given for the HS’ chest protection of rear adult occupants in the full-width frontal test, while no points were awarded to the car for the driver monitoring system as the HS did not meet ANCAP’s requirements for this category. No points were also awarded for the child presence detection system, as the HS does not come with said feature, where it alerts the driver when occupants remain in the vehicle when it is locked.

Despite these shortcomings, the new MG HS still managed to gain a five-star score, as it managed to break the bare minimum scores for each sub-category of this crash test. 

Second-gen MG HS SUV (left) and Malaysian-bound first-gen MG HS SUV (right).

While the new MG HS managed to get a full score for the ANCAP crash test, sadly this is not the model that local MG vanguard SAIC Motor Malaysia planned to bring into our market. Instead, the company has elected to bring the previous-gen HS SUV into our market, which is slated to make its local debut later at the Kuala Lumpur International Mobility Show (KLIMS) 2024.

And just like its successor, the previous-gen MG HS SUV also managed to get a five-star ANCAP rating, albeit said model was tested against the previous 2019 criteria.