2024 GWM Tank 500 given five-star ANCAP safety rating
The large SUV, ANCAP noted, has one of the best child-detection systems on the market.
The 2024 GWM Tank 500 has been awarded a maximum five-star safety rating by crash test authority ANCAP.
The three-row SUV was tested against the latest Australasian New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP) 2023-2025 protcols, and praised for having one of the most advanced child-detection systems on the market.
The GWM Tank 500 blitzed each of ANCAP’s key assessment areas, with high scores seen in a range of destructive crash tests – and maximum points awarded for the level of protection provided to adult and child occupants in the side impact test.
It performed best in the Child Occupant Protection category, chalking up a 93 per cent score based on the presence and function of a direct child presence detection (CPD) system – a feature encouraged (but not mandatory) through ANCAP’s protocols since 2023.
The system fitted to the Tank 500 uses a range of sensors within the vehicle that can detect physical and respiratory movements, and therefore the presence, of a child who may have been left inside once the vehicle is locked.
Where motion is detected, the vehicle sounds its horn and issues mobile phone and email notifications to alert the driver.
“The CPD system fitted to the GWM Tank 500 is one of the more advanced systems assessed by ANCAP so far, and it's great to see manufacturers implementing this potentially life-saving technology,” said ANCAP Chief Executive Officer, Carla Hoorweg.
The safety authority did note, however, that the third row does not feature any top tether anchors and therefore children who require a child car seat cannot use it.
In collision avoidance tests, the GWM Tank 500 also did well, as it is fitted with the full range of autonomous emergency braking (AEB) and lane support systems assessed by ANCAP, and high scores were awarded in braking and lane support tests with pedestrians, cyclists, motorcycles, and other vehicles.
However, the Tank 500 let itself down for having an increased risk to its occupants of being injured if the car was struck by an oncoming vehicle, with the full eight-point vehicle compatibility penalty given.
ANCAP found that, though the AEB system is effective in mitigating collisions in the head-on travelling straight scenario, it was not in the lane change scenario – where an oncoming vehicle moves into the path of the subject vehicle.