CAR safety-rating organisation Euro Ncap has released its latest batch of results, giving Skoda and Mini top marks for their latest models.
The Skoda Kodiaq and Mini Countryman, which are part of the growing number of SUVs and crossovers on our roads, have each been awarded five stars for their crash safety.
Nissan's new Micra has been dual-rated, getting a four-star score in standard form and five stars when equipped with optional safety equipment.
Another small car, the Suzuki Swift, was also dual-rated. It won three stars as standard and four when fitted with optional safety kit.
Each of the four cars reach five-star levels for adult occupant protection, child protection and pedestrian protection, with the overall rating differences attributable to the advanced driver assistance systems available.
The Skoda Kodiaq comes as standard with an autonomous emergency braking, or AEB, system that detects pedestrians as well as other cars.
Mini fits the Countryman with car-to-car AEB as standard, with pedestrian detection available as an option.
Nissan puts AEB pedestrian and lane assistance in the Micra's optional safety pack, which is enough to nudge the four-star rating with standard equipment into five-star territory.
Of the most recently tested bunch, only the Suzuki Swift does not offer a pedestrian focused AEB system, with its car-to-car AEB available only as an option.
Euro Ncap secretary general Michiel van Ratingen said AEB pedestrian systems had been rapidly adopted since it started rewarding their fitment last year.
"We hope to see as fast an adoption of AEB systems that detect cyclists when tests of those systems form part of the rating next year," he said.
"For 20 years, Euro Ncap has been pushing manufacturers to fit new and better safety technologies: originally, such things as airbags and pre-tensioners and, nowadays, advanced driver assistance systems that will form the building blocks for the automated vehicles of tomorrow."
