Hyundai Ioniq 5 vs BMW iX3 vs Volvo XC40 Recharge: safety and reliability
The Ioniq 5 and XC40 have five-star Euro NCAP crash-test ratings and all three cars feature a plethora of safety systems
The Hyundai Ioniq 5 received a five-star Euro NCAP crash-test rating in late 2021, getting an adult occupant protection score of 88%, a child protection score of 86% and an 88% safety assist score. It gets a full complement of airbags, a forward collision avoidance system, 'highway drive assist' cruise control, hill-start assistance, an intelligent speed limiter, ISOFIX child-seat points front and rear, lane-following assistance, lane-keeping assistance and tyre-pressure monitoring as standard. Higher-spec Ultimate and Premium trim levels also get blind-spot collision avoidance and an enhanced level of 'highway drive assist' semi-autonomous driving capability.
The regular combustion-engined version of the Volvo XC40 has a five-star Euro NCAP rating as well, with a 97% score for adult occupant protection and 87% for child protection. Euro NCAP has confirmed this can be applied to the zero-emissions model, too. Volvo has long been a byword for safety and reliability, so as you might expect, its electric SUV comes with a 360-degree parking camera, blind-spot monitoring and a steering wheel that vibrates if you drift out of lane as standard. Plus, Volvo’s safety assistance will also apply the brakes if it detects oncoming traffic, pedestrians or animals and you don’t react.
Due to the increased weight and altered packaging of the iX3 versus the X3 on which it's based, the standard car’s Euro NCAP crash-test score isn't applicable to the electric version. However, BMW, it’s fair to assume the iX3 has undergone all the necessary tests and tweaks to ensure it’s as safe – if not safer – than its petrol and diesel-engined siblings. In addition, every iX3 comes with the Driving Assistant Professional package, which builds in a variety of semi-autonomous driving features like adaptive cruise control, traffic-jam assistance and an active lane-keeping aid.
In the 2021 Driver Power car-owner satisfaction survey, Volvo came an impressive ninth in the list of best car manufacturers, compared to Hyundai (which finished 16th) and BMW (which came 21st) out of 30 brands. The XC40 also finished eighth on the list of 75 best new cars to own, but the Hyundai Kona did win the title of best new car to own. The highest rated BMW was the popular 3 Series, which came in 31st position out of 75 cars.
