2026 Proton X90 MC Safety Rating Plummets: ASEAN NCAP 5-Star to 1-Star

The ASEAN New Car Assessment Programme (ASEAN NCAP) officially announced on March 15 that it has drastically downgraded the safety rating of the 2026 Proton X90 MC from 5 stars to 1 star, making it the most concerned automotive safety incident in the Malaysian market recently. When this mid-size SUV was first launched in May 2023, it won a 5-star rating from ASEAN NCAP with its comprehensive safety configuration. The core reason for this sharp rating drop is that all key Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) have been removed from the new model.

According to a press release issued by ASEAN NCAP, none of the three optional variants of the 2026 Proton X90 MC are equipped with any form of ADAS features, while the previous model was originally equipped with a series of safety assistance functions such as Autonomous Emergency Braking, Forward Collision Warning, Lane Departure Warning, Lane Keep Assist, Rear Cross Traffic Alert and Blind Spot Detection, which were also important supports for its 5-star rating in 2023.

ASEAN NCAP stated that in accordance with its 2021-2025 assessment protocol, if a vehicle performs poorly in any single category, its overall star rating will be restricted to ensure the comprehensive safety performance of the vehicle. The removal of ADAS features directly caused the Safety Assistance (SA) score of the X90 MC to drop to 4 stars, while the Motorcyclist Safety (MS) category, which relies heavily on Blind Spot Detection, plummeted to 1 star, and the final overall rating was restricted to 1 star. It is worth noting that the previous X90 models produced between 2023 and 2025 still maintain their valid 5-star rating.

As a cost of the downgrade, the starting price of the 2026 Proton X90 MC is as much as RM 30,000 lower than the previous model, with an on-the-road price (excluding insurance) ranging from RM 99,800 to RM 115,800. In terms of appearance, the new car is not much different from the previous model, but the powertrain has been updated, equipped with a new 1.5-liter turbocharged inline four-cylinder engine, replacing the previous three-cylinder engine, but it is not equipped with a 48V mild hybrid system to further control costs.

Siti Zaharah binti Ishak, Director General of the Malaysian Institute of Road Safety Research (MIROS), expressed deep regret about this. She pointed out that Proton's decision to remove life-saving ADAS technology from the facelifted model left MIROS with no choice but to revoke its 2023 5-star rating to protect consumer rights and interests and maintain the integrity of safety standards. She also reminded all automakers that safety cannot be compromised, and verified safety technologies should not be sacrificed for superficial luxury configurations.

This is not the first time Proton has caused controversy by reducing safety configurations. In 2017, Proton removed the side airbags from the Exora model and only re-equipped them until the model was discontinued. The removal of ADAS from the X90 MC this time has once again aroused market doubts about Proton's safety strategy.

Both ASEAN NCAP and MIROS advise consumers to carefully check the safety configuration when purchasing the X90 MC, confirm the differences between it and the previous 5-star model, and avoid ignoring potential safety hazards due to information gaps. This sharp rating drop has also sounded the alarm for the Malaysian automotive market, highlighting the importance of safety configurations for vehicle ratings and consumers' travel safety.