Toyota Australia Head of Sales and Marketing says the new sixth generation RAV4 SUV is the “safest RAV4 ever”, despite planned driving changes later this year to achieve a five-star ANCAP safety rating.
The company confirmed at the media launch of the 2026 RAV4 in Australia that it will be “unrated” by ANCAP at launch, with a “product update in the second half of 2026” to make ongoing changes to comply with the more stringent new 2026 ANCAP and Euro NCAP safety protocols.
John Pappas, vice president of sales and marketing at Toyota Australia, stressed that despite the staggered launch, the sixth-generation RAV4 is still “the safest RAV4 ever”, with confirmed “product updates” being tweaks to undisclosed active and passive safety systems to achieve a five-star ANCAP rating.
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“The safety of the (RAV4) is the best we’ve ever had. And you know, we had planned to launch it last year, but due to production delays we have now launched it (under the new protocols for 2026),” Mr Pappas said Daily Sparkz.
“But I stand by what I say, it’s all about the level of safety that we provide to our customers, and you know that’s the most important thing to us (at Toyota),” Mr. Pappas continued.
“From a safety perspective, every vehicle, every single opportunity that comes our way, whether it’s a small change or a technical change, we’re constantly improving our safety features (and) product features. That’s exactly what we do.”
“Every year we try to achieve this on all our cars when we introduce minor or technical changes – so this is no different for us.”
“So again, yes, there has been a delay, (it is) the safest RAV4 ever, and there are so many (safety) features…so we really support the safety of the car and are really proud that this vehicle is the safest RAV4 ever.”
Toyota’s local product team said during a question-and-answer session that the upcoming “product updates” will not include structural changes at the factory level, but will not necessarily be retrofittable for early deliveries – so the first batch of vehicles will remain “unassessed” for the first six months or so.
Details of the upgrades have yet to be confirmed at this point, with Toyota representatives only confirming that they will involve “some improvements to the passive and active safety systems.”
The Japanese brand has confirmed that the RAV4 was originally scheduled to launch in Australia before the end of 2025 and was therefore designed to meet previous ANCAP and Euro NCAP protocols. However, production delays due to the fact that “quality” is the “top priority” have forced the launch of the new generation SUV in 2026.
ANCAP – or the Australasian New Car Assessment Program – has introduced new safety and crash testing protocols for 2026-28, developed in collaboration with sister company Euro NCAP.
You can read all about the 2026 ANCAP Security Protocols Herebut the headline change is from a “box-ticking” system to a “levels of safety” approach that better assesses in-car distractions and the real-world performance of active safety and assistance systems.
The new-generation 2026 Toyota RAV4 is already available in dealers in hybrid form, with Australia’s first plug-in hybrid (PHEV) range arriving in the coming months.
Prices for the fully electrified SUV range start at $45,990 before on-road costs, with the base version already receiving the full range of sixth-generation safety features and systems.
Despite the staggered rollout, Mr Pappas confirmed Toyota Australia had over 10,000 pre-orders for the new RAV4 before it went on sale earlier this month, and that the Japanese brand’s local division expects the SUV nameplate to deliver over 40,000 registrations for the 2026 calendar year.
While that’s well below the nearly 52,000 deliveries in 2025, it’s worth noting that RAV4 sales in 2026 are down significantly year-to-date as the previous-generation model sold out in the first quarter of the year.
Stay tuned Daily Sparkz for our review of the launch of the new Toyota RAV4 Hybrid in Australia on Wednesday April 22nd at 7:00pm Australian Eastern Standard Time (AEST).
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