Subaru Forester tops Japan collision safety test

Subaru Forester

THE new Subaru Forester (in Japanese market specification) won the Grand Prix Award for earning the highest score in the 2018-2019 Japan New Car Assessment Program (JNCAP) collision safety performance evaluation conducted by the country’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism and the National Agency for Automotive Safety and Victim’s Aid.

Subaru Corp. said the Forester also received Advanced Safety Vehicle Triple Plus rating, the highest mark in the 2018-2019 JNCAP preventive safety performance assessment.

The carmaker added the Subaru Impreza and XV also won the Grand Prix Award in the 2016-2017 assessment.

The new Forester uses the Subaru Global Platform, a new common architecture shared among certain Subaru vehicles which enhances passenger protection with improved energy absorption compared to the previous generation of the model, according to Subaru.

The platform is defined by a body structure using high-tensile steels in certain spots. This, Subaru said, allows the Forester improved passenger protection against frontal, side and rear-end impacts with minimal weight increase. The Forester is also fitted with pedestrian protection airbag as standard equipment.

Subaru said it would continue to “enhance its primary, active, passive and pre-crash safety technologies under its ‘all-around safety’ principle.”

The carmaker said it targets to eliminate by 2030 traffic accident-related deaths of Subaru drivers and passengers, as well as of pedestrians and cyclists hit by Subaru vehicles.