New plug-in hybrid BYD Sealion 6 scores five-star safety rating to help it battle Mitsubishi Outlander, Toyota RAV4 and Nissan X-Trail

Australia and New Zealand's independent assessor of vehicle safety, ANCAP, has awarded the BYD Sealion 6 Plug-in SUV a five-star safety rating against 2023 protocols.

It brings the Sealion 6 plug-in hybrid (PHEV) in line with other popular models in the Australian medium SUV segment, such as the Mitsubishi Outlander, Toyota RAV4 and Nissan X-Trail.

The BYD Sealion 6 is fitted with seven airbags and its strongest aspect was Adult Occupant Protection, for which it scored 88 per cent.

ANCAP praised the protection it offered to critical body regions, such as the head, but the lack of driver's knee airbag meant the Sealion 6's lower leg protection was 'adequate'.

The other notable result was how the Sealion 6 interfaced with other vehicles. It was docked 3.82 out of a possible 8.0 penalty points for posing a 'moderate' risk to oncoming vehicles in a crash.

2025 BYD Sealion 6 ANCAP crash test

Driver assistance systems mostly performed well, with the Sealion 6's auto emergency braking (AEB) system getting the nod for detecting other cars, pedestrians, cyclists and motorcycles, though ANCAP did call out the late warning for the cyclist anti-dooring warning.

The Australian-delivered Sealion 6 PHEV's rating is partially derived from the Seal-U EV tested by Euro NCAP though additional destructive tests were completed by ANCAP locally. You can read the detailed report here.

2025 BYD Sealion 6 ANCAP crash test

The five-star rating applies to both Dynamic and Premium variants. The Sealion 6 joins BYD's Seal, Dolphin and Atto 3 in the five-star ANCAP safety rating club.

BYD has sold 2096 examples of the Sealion 6 to date, representing a 5 per cent share of the medium SUV segment priced under $60,000.