HIROSHIMA, Japan—The Mazda5 minivan has been awarded a maximum six-star rating in the 2005 Japan New Car Assessment Program (J-NCAP^*1) crashworthiness test of safety features for the driver and front passenger seats. In an announcement on April 24, 2006, the award was given to Mazda based on tests conducted under the guidance of the Japanese Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MLIT) and the National Agency for Automotive Safety and Victim's Aid (NASVA). The Mazda5, known as the Premacy in its home market of Japan, was launched globally in February 2005. In September 2005, it achieved five-stars—the highest score possible—in the European New Car Assessment Programme (Euro NCAP^*2) test of adult occupant protection safety. The Mazda5's J-NCAP six-star rating marks the first time a minivan has won the maximum possible crash safety protection ratings from both European and Japanese testing agencies.

Mazda5 offers passengers the versatility of a minivan, together with several crash safety features based on Mazda's own high-rigidity Advanced Impact Distribution and Absorption System. With wide aperture dual-sliding doors, the Mazda5 also employs a strengthened triple-H body frame that, in the event of a collision, is designed to distribute any potential side impact shocks throughout the cabin frame. In a frontal collision, potential impact on occupants in the driver and front passenger seats is mitigated by front airbags and occupant restraints which have pretensioner and load-limiter mechanisms as standard equipment. In addition, an impact-absorbing steering column has been designed to collapse or pivot away from the driver during a frontal collision to reduce injuries to head and chest areas. Not only is the Mazda5 functional, with these safety features it is one of the safest minivans on the road today. Mazda5's excellent crashworthiness safety results from both the EU and Japanese NCAP authorities show that it is one of the best in its class at protecting passengers, recognized by winning these highly respected global safety standards.

Mazda5 has a comprehensive set of active safety technologies that help avoid accidents. It posted one of the most competitive results for braking distance in its class recorded by J-NCAP, stopping from 100 km/h in just 41.8 meters, one more benchmark pointing to its world-class levels of advanced safety protection.

Mazda is working toward the realization of better real-world safety features for its vehicles by studying contemporary social and traffic environments and strives to make the Mazda vehicles of the future even safer for its customers.