First the good news. The eMax 9 did excellently. Its Physical Crash Protection tests demonstrated good results, with low levels of occupant injury risk recorded in almost all areas (89/100). Whiplash protection was good for first and second-row seating positions, with a marginal level of whiplash protection noted for third row seats.

Moreover, its Crash Avoidance functions, including auto emergency braking and lane departure prevention, demonstrated good performance across many of the assessed scenarios (78/100).

It even scored a perfect 100 percent for Post Crash, meeting all emergency information provision requirements, including effective battery voltage isolation and post-crash fire-risk management, and providing occupants with accessible internal and external door releases.

Now, the not-so-good news. The Sealion 5 is the first BYD model not to nab a perfect 5-star safety rating due to poor marks in its Crash Avoidance (51/100) and Safe Driving performance (48/100).

Of note, the Sealion 5’s emergency lane keeping system did not intervene when tested in road-edge scenarios. This capability has been encouraged through ANCAP’s rating criteria since 2018. Unintended lane departures are a major contributor to road accidents (in Australia at least), accounting for 42 percent of fatal crashes and 55 percent of fatalities resulting from light-vehicle crashes.

The Sealion 5 also missed out on a number of other important safety features including Seatbelt misuse alert (warns if a seatbelt is worn incorrectly); Stature classification (recognizes occupant size so restraints can respond appropriately); and Low-speed pedal-misapplication (suppresses engine power if the accelerator is pressed by mistake when a pedestrian is ahead).

Still, it’s worth noting that the Sealion 5 still provides respectable Crash Protection be it for adults or child occupants (79/100). However, ANCAP notes that in the new Virtual and Sled test assessments, it showed that protection was reduced for larger occupants and at higher test severity.

The Sealion 5 also provided similar range of Post Crash safety features in the eMax 9 / M9 such as battery thermal management, multi-collision braking, and occupant egress options (74/100).