New Mazda CX-5 has passed its first serious crash tests: which brands it surpassed in pedestrian safety
Kyiv • UNN
The 2026 Mazda CX-5 achieved a five-star Euro NCAP safety rating, outperforming the Honda CR-V in all major categories. The car showed outstanding results, especially in protecting vulnerable road users.
The 2026 Mazda CX-5 received a five-star Euro NCAP safety rating, surpassing the Honda CR-V in key safety categories and even outperforming Volvo and Tesla in pedestrian safety, UNN reports with reference to Autoblog.
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According to new Euro NCAP tests, the new CX-5 officially received five stars and showed outstanding results for vulnerable road users.
According to Euro NCAP, the Mazda CX-5 showed no serious safety issues during testing. The car showed the following results in four main safety test parameters:
- adult passengers: 90%;
- child passengers: 89%;
- driver assistance systems: 83%;
- vulnerable road users: 93%.
"The passenger compartment of the Mazda CX-5 remained stable in the frontal offset crash test," the Euro NCAP report states. "Mannequin readings indicate good protection for the knees and femurs of both the driver and front passenger. Mazda demonstrated that a similar level of protection would be provided to passengers of different heights and in different positions."
However, the Mazda was not perfect: the safety body noted insufficient chest protection for the driver, but this was not enough to lower the rating by one star. The side impact test showed adequate results, and the seats were able to reduce the risk of whiplash injuries. Notably, Mazda provides protection for passengers of different builds, given that crash test dummies have for many years been primarily designed for male sizes, but this is finally changing, the publication notes.
Mazda outperformed its competitor Honda CR-V in all four main categories, even when the Honda was equipped with a safety package available in the European market. The CR-V performed well, but was not as reliable in all respects as the Mazda.
While passenger protection is generally a strong point of modern cars in a collision, developing a car that reduces the likelihood of injury or even death for vulnerable road users such as pedestrians, cyclists, and motorcyclists is a more challenging task. But Mazda's 93% rating in this area is outstanding. Head protection measures for vulnerable road users are generally impressive, and the autonomous emergency braking system responds well to pedestrians and cyclists, the publication writes. "In pedestrian response tests, it performed exceptionally well, including in terms of protecting those behind the car," the safety organization said.
To assess how good Mazda's 93% rating for vulnerable road users is, the publication provides several cars and their comparative ratings:
- Porsche Cayenne: 81%;
- Hyundai Nexo: 76%;
- Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross: 82%;
- Jeep Compass: 74%;
- Tesla Model Y: 86%;
- Volvo EX90: 82%;
- Volvo EX30: 79%