BYD’s Seal and Dolphin Impress in Safety Tests

The Australian New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP) tested two more BYD cars, the Seal electric sedan and the Dolphin electric hatchback, and they both received a top 5-star safety rating in their latest crash tests.

The BYD Seal was released in Australia on October 17th, aiming to compete with the Tesla Model 3. The base model of the Seal costs $49,888 AUD, which is $12,102 AUD cheaper than the Model 3. According to ANCAP, the Seal did exceptionally well in protecting the driver during the oblique pole test and child passengers in the side impact test, earning it a full 5-star rating. It was found to provide good protection.

In terms of specific scores, the Seal achieved 89% for adult occupant protection, scoring full marks in side impact, almost full marks in full-width frontal tests, and good scores in other safety tests. However, it didn’t get the highest score due to some missing safety features like ISOFIX anchorages and airbag disabling features for the front passenger. Overall, it received an 87% rating in this area.

The Seal also received an 82% rating for protecting vulnerable road users, with some areas for improvement in scenarios involving cyclists and pedestrian safety. Despite these issues, ANCAP still considered the Seal’s performance good.

Regarding safety assistance features, the Seal scored 75%, with the AEB Head-On system performing marginally. However, its overall safety performance was rated positively as it can help prevent collisions with vehicles, pedestrians, cyclists, and motorcyclists.

On the other hand, the BYD Dolphin, priced from $38,890 AUD, also received a 5-star rating from ANCAP. In terms of adult occupant protection, it scored 89%, with only a slight concern about driver chest protection in frontal offset tests. This explains the overall score of 5.68/8 in the frontal offset category.

The child occupant protection of the Dolphin received an 86% rating, scoring well in both frontal and side-impact tests. However, it showed marginal and poor results in protecting pedestrian heads hitting the windshield of front pillars in the vulnerable road users category, which is slightly different from the Seal’s performance.

In terms of safety assistance, the BYD Dolphin scored 77%, and its AEB Head-On system showed adequate performance, unlike the Seal. Overall, both the BYD Seal and Dolphin received positive safety ratings in their respective tests.