Malaysian-Bound Toyota Yaris Cross Receives 5-Star ASEAN NCAP Score

The DNGA-based Toyota Yaris Cross just received a five-star score for the ASEAN NCAP crash test. Coming to Malaysia soon?

It’s been a few years since the DNGA-based, ASEAN-only Toyota Yaris Cross debuted, and this B-segment SUV crossover has finally been crash tested by ASEAN NCAP. For this test, an Indonesian-spec Yaris Cross was being tested, where it has gained a solid five-star rating with an overall score of 83.02, putting it on par with other B-SUV rivals like the Chery Omoda 5, Mitsubishi X-Force, and GAC GS3 Emzoom, to name a few.

Breaking down the overall score, you’ll see that the Yaris Cross has scored 29.28 points out of the possible 32 for the Adult Occupant Protection (AOP), 44.17 points out of 51 for Child Occupant Protection (COP), 17.74 points out of 21 for Safety Assists, and 9.76 points out of 16 for Motorcycle Safety.

Also important to note is that the Yaris Cross was tested under the 2021-2025 assessment protocol, making it one of the final vehicles to be tested under it before the new regulation for 2026-2030 begins.

Thai-spec Toyota Yaris Cross HEV

What helps the DNGA Yaris Cross gain its five-star score is the comprehensive standard safety equipment it comes with, which includes things like six airbags, as well as both traction (TCS) and stability (VSC) controls, which are available across all variants.

More importantly, the SUV is also brimmed with active safety features, thanks to the Toyota Safety Sense suite of driver assists that adds key ADAS functions like autonomous emergency braking (AEB), lane keeping assist (LKA), blind spot monitoring (BSM), and auto high beam (AHB). Mind you, these functions are only available for higher-specced models, depending on the market.

Speaking of markets, what’s also interesting to see is that the ASEAN NCAP result sheet shows that the Yaris Cross is also listed as being made in Malaysia for the Malaysian market. That said, UMW Toyota Motor (UMWT) has yet to sell the car here, although that might be the case in the future, as the DNGA Yaris Cross was long touted to be launched here.

That said, this could also indicate that we might be getting closer to its long-awaited Malaysian debut, and should this be true, perhaps there’s a chance that we’ll get the Toyota version of the Yaris Cross first, before the long-rumoured Perodua version—codenamed D66B—arrives.

Perodua president & CEO Datuk Seri Zainal Abidin Ahmad (left) confirmed that the automaker won't be launching any new hybrid model this year.

This possibility is also in line with a statement made by Perodua president and CEO Datuk Seri Zainal Abidin Ahmad, who confirmed that Perodua won’t be releasing any hybrid models this year, with the automaker instead focusing on its first EV model, which is due to debut by the end of this year.