Voyah's flagship Taishan SUV has become the first model priced above 400,000 yuan (about $56,300) to achieve the top five-star plus rating in China's updated C-NCAP safety tests, according to the China Automotive Technology and Research Center (CATARC) and as reported by Sina Auto.
The Taishan, a large six-seat SUV, scored 92% overall in the C-NCAP 2024 protocol, which was released on October 26. The new testing regime moves beyond single-crash scenarios to better reflect real-world accident risks in daily traffic, covering occupant protection, vulnerable road user (VRU) safety, and active safety systems.
Occupant protection and third-row safety
In occupant protection, the Taishan achieved a score rate of 95.22%, ahead of the average 92.41% for vehicles tested under the same protocol. As the heaviest model in this round of testing, the SUV faces higher collision forces at equivalent speeds. Voyah says the body uses a high-strength cage structure with a triple load-dispersal design to preserve cabin integrity. The door ring uses 2,200 MPa steel, which the company claims provides 45% more side-impact survival space than the standard requires.
For third-row passengers, a common weak point in six-seat SUVs, the Taishan is equipped with nine airbags, including a 60-litre side curtain airbag that covers all three rows. This ensures occupants in the rearmost seats receive protection comparable to the driver.
Pedestrian safety and active systems
In VRU protection, the Taishan scored 86%, above the industry average. The bonnet features a collapsible buffer structure that deforms on impact to absorb energy and avoid secondary injury from hard components beneath. This is particularly relevant for scenarios like school zones and residential areas, where pedestrians and cyclists are common.
In active safety, the Taishan scored 90.95%, also above the tested average. It uses the CAS 4.0 collision avoidance system, which combines lidar and camera fusion to detect vehicles, pedestrians, and two-wheelers. The system covers all speeds, targets, directions, weather conditions, and scenarios, with automatic emergency braking (AEB) scoring full marks in car-to-car, car-to-pedestrian, and car-to-two-wheeler tests.
The Taishan's driver assistance is built on an L3-ready architecture, using a four-lidar setup with one 896-line dual-optical-path unit and three solid-state blind-spot lidars, plus 34 sensors in total. The system, developed with Huawei's Qiankun ADAS, includes redundant braking, steering, power, perception, and communication, allowing seamless takeover if any single component fails.
Before the C-NCAP result, the Taishan had already completed extreme safety challenges at CATARC's TOP Safety program, including a first-in-industry spiral rollover followed by an aerial pole impact and a four-side collision test. The model is part of Voyah's push into the premium large-SUV segment, competing with other Chinese and foreign brands in the 400,000-yuan-plus bracket.
