The Toyota Yaris Cross is now one of the safest vehicles on the road today. This statement is made solid by the latest ASEAN NCAP safety tests, which saw the Japanese subcompact crossover achieving 5-star ratings in both occupant and pedestrian safety departments.
The ASEAN NCAP safety test features four categories – the Adult Occupant Protection or AOP, Child Occupant Protection (COP), Safety Assist (SA), and the Motorcyclist Safety or MS. The Toyota Yaris Cross garnered a total of 83.02 points shared between these categories.
ASEAN NCAP reported that the Yaris Cross offers solid structural protection as observed during its crash simulation tests. It noted that the vehicle’s front and side areas remained stable, signifying an overall commendable protection for both adult and child occupants. The Yaris Cross gained 36.36 points and 17.32 points in the AOP and COP safety categories, respectively.
The ASEAN NCAP said that ample protection for the occupants’ chest area was observed. It, however, noted that the driver’s lower right leg area only received marginal protection. Although the ASEAN-spec Toyota Yaris Cross’ structure is of the highest safety standards, its lack of knee airbags may have contributed to the result.
In context, the vehicle has six airbags as standard. These include 1 for the driver, 1 for the front passenger, 2 side airbags, and 2 curtain airbags. In future iterations of the Yaris Cross, the addition of standard knee airbags is something Toyota should look into.
Aside from the six airbags, the Toyota Yaris Cross also comes standard with electronic stability control, an anti-lock braking system, and seatbelt reminders for all passengers.
Moreover, its more advanced safety features, which are available depending on the variant, include autonomous emergency braking for both city and highway, blind spot detection, lane departure warning, forward collision warning, lane keep assist, and automatic high beam. This assortment of advanced equipment, which aims to protect both inside and out, helped the Yaris Cross gain 16.89 points and 12.21 points in the SA and MC categories, respectively.
Toyota’s performance in the latest safety assessment reflects its solid efforts to meet and surpass safety benchmarks across Southeast Asia. The good news is that one of the safest vehicles today, the Toyota Yaris Cross, is currently available here in the Philippines, with a starting price of P1,210,000.
