{"id":651483,"date":"2026-06-07T07:05:33","date_gmt":"2026-06-07T05:05:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/?p=651483"},"modified":"2026-06-07T07:17:19","modified_gmt":"2026-06-07T05:17:19","slug":"warning-about-the-safety-of-chinese-cars-sold-in-south-africa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/motoring\/651483-warning-about-the-safety-of-chinese-cars-sold-in-south-africa.html","title":{"rendered":"Warning about the safety of Chinese cars sold in South Africa"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Several of the top-selling Chinese cars in South Africa have significantly downgraded safety equipment on their entry-level models compared to their most affordable variants in larger overseas markets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite this, some manufacturers of these vehicles tout overseas crash-test safety scores in their marketing materials, which apply only to higher-end trims.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Automobile Association of South Africa CEO Bobby Ramagwede recently expressed concerns about the safety of certain Chinese vehicles in an interview with Moneyweb<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He was specifically worried that Chinese carmakers were “corner-cutting” on the tensile strength of the metals used in key structural parts of some vehicles after visiting car shows in China.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, it was unclear whether any of the models Ramagwede examined were sold in South Africa, as he did not provide further details.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The AA has lobbied for better minimum vehicle safety standards in South Africa for many years. As part of this, it has collaborated with Global NCAP to secretly ship and test local models in Germany. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The organisation has often found that the entry-level versions of popular vehicles sold in South Africa performed poorly in Global NCAP crash tests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In many cases, their safety scores were lower than the most affordable variants of the same models sold in Europe, Australia, and New Zealand.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the biggest contributing factors was the reduction in the number of airbags in locally sold entry-level models, particularly the lack of curtain airbags.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These devices provide critical protection against side head injuries. Without them, it is impossible to score more than two stars under the stricter Global NCAP testing regime introduced in 2025. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Out of the top 10 best-selling Chinese models in South Africa in April 2026, only one was tested by the AA and Global NCAP \u2014 the Chery Tiggo 7.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While its most affordable variant scored five stars in Australasian ANCAP testing, it only achieved two stars in South Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Although there is no difference in the structure of Chinese vehicles sold in Australia and South Africa, the entry-level Tiggo 7 in South Africa has four fewer airbags.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The AA criticised Chery for advertising the Tiggo 7’s high overseas crash safety score when it did not apply to its most affordable variants in South Africa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fewer airbags in South Africa<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

MyBroadband found the same airbag reduction applied to most of the top 10 best-selling Chinese cars in South Africa in April 2026. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In addition to the Chery Tiggo 7, six models achieved 5-star ratings in ANCAP or Euro NCAP testing, which are stricter protocols than Global NCAP. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two Jetour models achieved 5-star ratings in ASEAN NCAP testing, which is less stringent than Global NCAP.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In all cases, the entry-level models in Australia had curtain airbags. In South Africa, four more models \u2014 the Chery Tiggo 4, GWM Haval Jolion, Omoda C5, and Jetour Dashing \u2014 had four or fewer airbags.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That meant the maximum score they could achieve in a Global NCAP crash test would be two stars. The same applies to the only model not scored on any testing protocol \u2014 the Jetour Dashing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was also the only model that was not on sale in Australia. The five remaining models featured side curtain airbags.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Given that their structural integrity is the same as that of the entry-level models tested under ANCAP, Euro NCAP, and ASEAN NCAP, they would likely score three or more stars in Global NCAP tests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These models were the BYD Dolphin Surf, GWM Haval H6, GWM P-series, Jetour T1, and Jetour T2. It should be noted that the Jetour models were only tested under the less stringent ASEAN NCAP. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The table below compares the standard airbag count and potential crash test rating of the top 10 best-selling Chinese cars in South Africa with the same elements for their Australian versions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Model <\/th>Overseas crash test rating<\/th>Australian entry-level model airbag count<\/th>South African entry-level model airbag count<\/th>Possible Global NCAP rating for South African model<\/th><\/tr><\/thead>
Chery Tiggo 4 <\/td>5-star ANCAP
4-star Euro NCAP<\/td>		7 airbags<\/td>2 airbags<\/td>2 stars or lower<\/mark><\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
GWM Haval Jolion<\/td>5-star ANCAP<\/td>7 airbags<\/td>4 airbags<\/td>2 stars or lower<\/strong><\/mark><\/td><\/tr>
Jetour T2<\/td>5-star ASEAN NCAP<\/td>6 airbags<\/td>6 airbags<\/td>3 stars or higher<\/strong><\/mark><\/td><\/tr>
Omoda C5<\/td>5-star ANCAP
5-star ASEAN NCAP
5-star Euro NCAP<\/td>		7 airbags<\/td>4 airbags<\/td>2 stars or lower<\/mark><\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
GWM P-series<\/td>5-star ANCAP<\/td>7 airbags<\/td>7 airbags<\/td>3 stars or higher<\/mark><\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
Chery Tiggo 7 <\/td>5-star ANCAP<\/td>8 airbags<\/td>4 airbags<\/td>Tested 2 stars<\/mark><\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
GWM Haval H6 <\/td>5-star ANCAP<\/td>7 airbags<\/td>6 airbags<\/td>3 stars or higher<\/mark><\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
Jetour Dashing<\/td>Not sold in Australia<\/td>N\/a<\/td>4 airbags<\/td>2 stars or lower<\/mark><\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
BYD Dolphin Surf<\/td>5-star Euro NCAP<\/td>6 airbags<\/td>6 airbags<\/td>3 stars or higher<\/mark><\/strong><\/td><\/tr>
Jetour T1 <\/td>5-star ASEAN NCAP<\/td>6 airbags<\/td>6 airbags<\/td>3 stars or higher<\/mark><\/strong><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/div><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Several Chinese carmakers have reduced the number of airbags available on entry-level trims of South African models, making crash test reports from overseas unreliable in many cases.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":341042,"featured_media":651523,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29366],"tags":[20813,98509,83779,105677,104540,90420,101417],"class_list":["post-651483","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-motoring","tag-automobile-association-of-south-africa-aa","tag-bobby-ramagwede","tag-chery","tag-chery-tiggo-7","tag-chinese-car-manufacturers","tag-chinese-cars","tag-chinese-vehicles"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/651483"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/341042"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=651483"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/651483\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":651649,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/651483\/revisions\/651649"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/651523"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=651483"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=651483"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mybroadband.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=651483"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}