ANCAP has handed a five-star score to the Subaru Crosstrek and Impreza on sale from June 2025, following upgrades to their traffic sign recognition system.
The 2025 Subaru Crosstrek and 2025 Subaru Impreza have received a five-star ANCAP safety rating following a safety upgrade for Australia, with earlier models set to miss out.
ANCAP has confirmed the top score only applies to Model Year 2025 (MY25) versions of the Crosstrek and Impreza built from April 2025 and on sale from this month, with cars built between 2023 and March 2025 remaining 'unrated'.
Euro NCAP confirmed a five-star score for all versions of the current Crosstrek and Impreza in 2024, however, at the time, ANCAP said it could not apply the result as specification differences were identified compared to Europe.
These differences appear to relate to the traffic sign recognition system fitted to earlier models, which only had software and hardware capable of detecting speed signs in Australia.
A Subaru Australia spokesperson said the Model Year 2025 Crosstrek and Impreza have received hardware changes to now detect Stop, Give Way and No Entry signs, along with revisions to their speed-sign recognition capabilities.
"There has been an update to the EyeSight system with some additional hardware to update the speed sign recognition system as well as the new traffic sign recognition which now helps detect traffic signs such as No Entry, Give Way and Stop signs," the spokesperson said.
"The latest results highlight the strength of Subaru’s outstanding safety engineering, with the vehicle achieving high scores across key assessment categories.
"For Subaru, safety isn’t just part of the package, it’s the foundation. We are proud to see that commitment recognised by ANCAP, reaffirming our focus on offering smarter, safer vehicles for Australians."
ANCAP said the joint-rating applies due to the "design and safety specification similarities", with full-width frontal, oblique pole and side-impact tests conducted for the Crosstrek, while the Impreza faced a frontal-offset crash and another side-impact test to develop the five-star result.
The Crosstrek and Impreza scored 83 per cent for adult occupant protection, 91 per cent for child occupant protection, and 73 per cent for safety assistance.
Their updated speed-assistance systems scored 2.43 points out of a possible three.
"A speed assistance system (SAS) with speed limit information function (SLIF), intelligent speed limiter (ISL) and intelligent adaptive cruise control (iACC) is standard, informing the driver of the local speed limit and allowing the driver to accept the change in speed accordingly," ANCAP said.
An 85 per cent score applies to the Crosstrek for vulnerable road user protection, while the Impreza received a lower 84 per cent score, as upper leg protection in the Crosstrek was found to be "superior to that of the Impreza".
However, the Impreza "offered slightly better head and lower leg protection for pedestrians than the Crosstrek," ANCAP said in a media release.
"The Subaru Crosstrek is an important model for the Australian and New Zealand markets and continues to be a popular choice for fleet and private buyers alike," ANCAP chief executive officer Carla Hoorweg added.
Prices for the 2025 Subaru Crosstrek have increased by $500 – now ranging between $35,990 and $46,090 before on-road costs – while details for the 2025 Subaru Impreza are yet to be announced.
Jordan is a motoring journalist based in Melbourne with a lifelong passion for cars. He has been surrounded by classic Fords and Holdens, brand-new cars, and everything in between from birth, with his parents’ owning an automotive workshop in regional Victoria. Jordan started writing about cars in 2021, and joined the Drive team in 2024.
