Changan Automobile Deepal S07 scores ANCAP five-star rating

The most recent new battery-electric SUV entering the Australian market has been awarded a five-star safety rating from ANCAP.

The Deepal S07 electric SUV, manufactured by Changan Automobile, officially went on sale in Australia on December 19, 2024.

Inchcape Australia head of communications Chloe Fraser told Auto Media Group in late September that the Deepal brand was only confirmed for the Australian market.

The Deepal S07 battery electric SUV scored 95% for Adult Occupant Protection, matching the Toyota Camry as the top scorer for its physical protection and safe restraint of adult occupants against the current 2023-2025 criteria. To date, 37 models have been star-rated against these requirements.  

Unblemished injury risk scores for the driver in the side impact (T-bone) and oblique pole crash tests and the front-seat passenger in the frontal offset (head-on) crash test contributed to this record score. 

The Deepal S07’s design and structure also demonstrated good performance, with a low risk of serious injury to occupants of ‘opponent’ vehicles in a crash. A minor deduction of 0.86 points out of a potential 8.00-point penalty was applied to assess vehicle compatibility in the frontal offset crash test. 

Maximum points were awarded for child occupants’ protection in the frontal offset and side impact crash tests. 

ANCAP examines first responders’ safe access to trapped or injured vehicle occupants after every crash test. Interest in this has increased recently, with recessed and retractable electric door handles being introduced into new vehicle designs. ANCAP requires the handles of all side doors to be in the extended, ready-to-open position immediately after a crash in which the vehicle’s system deploys an airbag or detects a severe impact.  

The Deepal S07 has retractable door handles, and a post-crash assessment showed that it meets these criteria. In addition, its doors can be opened if the vehicle loses power, and its electric windows can be opened following water submergence.  

Turning to collision avoidance capability, the S07 has a full suite of autonomous emergency braking (AEB) and lane support systems.   Good and Adequate performance was combined, with mixed results in some of the more advanced AEB Pedestrian test scenarios. A Marginal performance report was recorded for the AEB Crossing scenarios where the S07 showed limited auto-brake performance when crossing the path of another vehicle.