The Subaru Outback, which was recently introduced into South Africa, has been awarded a full five stars by the Euro NCAP. The Japanese crossover showed promising results throughout all four categories of the test thanks to an impressive amount of safety features.
In the adult occupant test, the passenger compartment of the Subaru Outback remained stable in the frontal offset test. Dummy numbers showed good protection of the knees and femurs of both the driver and passenger. The car showed that a similar level of protection would be provided to occupants of different sizes and to those sitting in different positions. It achieves a final score of 88 per cent.
Dummy readings of the driver’s chest compression indicated marginal protection for this body area. Analysis of the deceleration of the impact trolley during the test, and analysis of the deformable barrier after the test, revealed that the Subaru Outback would be a moderately benign impact partner in a frontal collision.
For the child occupant segment, in the frontal offset test, the Subaru Outback provided good protection to all critical body regions of both the six and 10 year dummies. However, in the side barrier test, protection of the chest of the 10-year dummy was rated as poor, based on high decelerations recorded during the impact, although all other body regions were well protected. With this, it boasts a final result of 89 per cent.
The bonnet of the Subaru Outback provided predominantly good protection to the head of a struck pedestrian, with areas of poor protection recorded only on the stiff windscreen pillars. The bumper offered good protection at all test locations to pedestrian legs and protection of the pelvis was also good across the width of the car.
The 2021 Subaru Outback has a seatbelt reminder system, including occupant detection in all seating positions, as standard. It is also equipped with a system which monitors the driver’s state of alertness, directly, by assessing eye movement, and indirectly, from steering inputs which can provide indications of fatigued or impaired driving. A camera-based lane support system gently corrects the car’s path if it is veering out of lane, and also intervenes in some more critical situations.
