Sometimes, current models in the market can get caught when independent safety organizations up their standards for their new car assessment programs or NCAPs.

Such is the case of the BYD Sealion 5, which has been given a three-star safety rating by the Australasian New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP). This makes the Sealion 5 the first BYD model to fall short of a five-star rating.

Hold on to your pitchforks for now, though, and try to stay calm. The reason why the Sealion 5 fell short of a five-star rating is because of these two assessment areas – Crash Avoidance and Safe Driving, which mainly involve the performance of a car’s ADAS systems.

For the Crash Avoidance assessment, ANCAP says the BYD Sealion 5’s AEB can detect vehicles, motorcycles, cyclists, and pedestrians, but showed mixed performance, particularly in intersection and low-speed scenarios, with reverse AEB also providing limited collision avoidance.

It can warn occupants of approaching cyclists when exiting, while its lane support system showed limited effectiveness in preventing lane departures and offered collision intervention against adjacent vehicles only at speeds below 70 km/h.

While the BYD Sealion 5 offers intelligent seatbelt reminders and occupant detection across all seats, the ANCAP testing says it cannot detect occupant stature, seatbelt misuse, out-of-position front passengers, or child presence. Its driver monitoring system can identify common distractions, but cannot detect phone use or intervene with an unresponsive driver.

Likewise, most key controls have physical switches, although some functions such as headlights, interior lights, and climate fan adjustment rely on the central touchscreen. Its speed assistance system correctly identified 66% of speed-limit changes, while adaptive cruise control and steering assistance showed reasonable performance, albeit with limited advanced functionality. This meant the Sealion 5 only scored 48% in the Safe Driving assessment category.

These two assessments were the reason why the Sealion 5 only scored three stars, as ANCAP safety ratings are determined by a vehicle's lowest-performing category.

In the Crash Protection and Post-Crash assessments, however, the Sealion 5 fared better and scored 79% and 74%, respectively, but still a bit short of getting five stars. Under the new 2026-2028 ANCAP criteria, a vehicle must meet a minimum of 80% for Crash Protection and Post-Crash Safety, 70% for Crash Avoidance, and 60% for Safe Driving to achieve a five-star rating.

Newer BYDs such as the Sealion 8 and the eMAX9 DM-I were able to get five stars in the ANCAP safety tests, but do take note that the Sealion 5 is made on a rather dated platform, as it has existed since 2019 in China under the name BYD Song Pro.