- Toyota has submitted the updated Hiace van for re-testing against latest ANCAP rating criteria.
- Tougher tests and more stringent scoring applied, reflecting safety evolution of the popular van.
- The Mitsubishi Outlander also scored five stars in the stricter tests.
The Toyota Hiace has received significant updates to its safety specification in recent months, with the updated vehicle now being submitted to ANCAP for re-testing and reassessment against the safety regulator's current, most stringent 2025 criteria.
When it was first released into the Australian and New Zealand markets in 2019, the H30 series Toyota Hiace achieved a five-star rating against the 2019 test criteria in place at the time. Six years on, Toyota has upgraded its high-selling commercial van, adding an expanded list of crash protection and crash avoidance features that have seen it score another full five-star rating under the current test criteria.
According to ANCAP, the safety enhancements have been added to vehicles built from June 2025, and enabled the Hiace to achieve five-star performance in the more demanding MPDB frontal offset and far-side impact tests. Both of these tests were introduced to the ANCAP test regime in 2020, after the Hiace’s original 2019 assessment.
The Hiace now gets a centre airbag to reduce occupant-to-occupant injury risk, as well as Emergency Lane Keeping (ELK), intelligent adaptive cruise control, advanced speed sign recognition, a "significantly upgraded" autonomous emergency braking (AEB) system, and extended vulnerable road user protection with the ability to now detect and respond to motorcyclists as well as pedestrians and cyclists.
"ANCAP’s test and scoring protocols are intentionally updated every few years to recognise the safety advancements manufacturers are bringing to market, and to encourage ongoing improvement,” said ANCAP Chief Executive Officer, Carla Hoorweg.
"Think of smartphones or computers. With each new version, consumers expect better performance and added features. Vehicles are no different – safety should continually evolve, and these reassessments demonstrate manufacturers’ commitment to ongoing safety improvements."
Alongside the Hiace, the Mitsubishi Outlander also recently underwent retesting following updates since its 2022 introduction, where it achieved a five-star rating, a result it repeated under the newer criteria as well.
"These reassessments confirm that the Toyota Hiace and Mitsubishi Outlander remain some of the safest fleet and family models on the market — five stars then, five stars now, despite tougher tests," said Hoorweg.
