Among the raft of information we managed to gather today at the Proton Compact Car media preview event, one thing really stood out – safety.
The Proton Compact Car will come with stability control as standard on all variants, and the top 1.6 Premium model will feature six airbags. All five seat belts are of the three-point variety.
Apart from the use of Hot Press-Formed (HPF) parts and Ultra High-Strength Steel (UHSS) in its construction, the baby Proton will also have ABS with EBD, TCS, Hill Hold Assist (including for manual-gearbox variants) and rear-seat Isofix with top tether as standard across the range.
Seat belt reminders are present for all seats, and the front seat belts are height-adjustable. Both of these are also standard across the range. Airbag count is six on the 1.6 Premium and two on all the rest. The braking system features 14-inch discs at the front and eight-inch drums at the rear.
A presentation slide (we weren’t allowed to take photographs) claimed that the Proton Compact Car’s stopping distance from 100 km/h to zero was 39.51 metres, shorter than the Honda Brio‘s 43.5 metres, Hyundai i10‘s 42.36 metres and Mitsubishi Mirage‘s 40.54 metres.
With all of that, the Proton Compact Car is expecting five-star safety ratings from both ASEAN NCAP and ANCAP (Australian NCAP), and, we’re told, the reality of that is not very far away.
