Don't expect an ANCAP rating for the Mazda CX-90 anytime soon

The Mazda CX-90reaches showrooms this month, but don’t expect a local safety rating anytime soon.

Mazda Australia has confirmed it hasn’t yet submitted the vehicle for testing by safety authority ANCAP, and so therefore it will go without a rating – at least for now.

“It’s certainly designed to meet the strictest safety standards,” said Mazda Australia national marketing director Alastair Doak

“Obviously this car isn’t sold in Europe, so that means it would have to be assessed by ANCAP.

“That’s an involved process and a very expensive process so we’re thinking about that.”

Some vehicles are able to share ANCAP ratings because of structural similarities – Mitsubishi’s Pajero Sport SUV, for example, was awarded the same safety rating as the Triton ute it was based on.

Given the CX-60, with which the CX-90 shares a platform, has received a five-star rating from ANCAP, we asked Mazda if this could be carried over.

“You can’t do it with CX-60 and CX-90 just because of the size of the vehicle, the weight of the vehicle, the third row is important as well. You need specific dummy tests for that as well,” said Mr Doak.

“It’s not transferable.”

Mazda says customers who want to know more about the safety performance of the CX-90 can look to US safety authorities like the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, though neither has published a rating for the CX-90 yet.

It’s not completely unusual for a vehicle sold in Australia to lack an ANCAP rating.

In addition to high-end sports cars, which are rarely tested by ANCAP or its European counterpart, there’s a raft of popular vehicles that lack a rating whether because it has expired (e.g. Volvo XC90), an overseas rating doesn’t apply (e.g. Porsche Cayenne) or it simply has never been tested (e.g. Nissan Patrol).

However, in terms of the CX-90’s more direct rivals – from mass-market fare like the Jeep Grand Cherokee L through to more upmarket models like the Genesis GV80 – all have a current ANCAP rating, or at the very least one that recently expired.

MORE: Everything Mazda CX-90 MORE: Australia’s best-selling cars with no safety rating in 2023