9 popular cars that should be banned in South Africa – According to the AA

The Automobile Association of South Africa (AA) argues that no cars should be sold locally unless they offer side head protection for front- and rear-seat occupants as standard.

If this were enforced, nine of the country’s best-selling cars, including the base versions of the Toyota Hilux and VW Polo Vivo, would no longer be allowed in South Africa.

The AA has sounded the alarm over multiple cars sold in South Africa in recent months, with an emphasis on models that lack key safety equipment.

It highlighted how most cars sold in African markets have less safety equipment as standard and are not subject to the same standards as vehicles sold in other regions.

“Safety should never be an optional extra, and certainly not reserved for markets outside Africa,” the AA said in a statement.

“The AA believes no vehicle should be sold here without side head protection for front and rear rows.”

In South Africa, it is common practice for safety and assistance features to be gated behind more expensive trim levels.

While functions like adaptive cruise control fall into the “nice to have” bracket and are reasonable incentives to purchase a higher-spec model, the AA argues that basic safety equipment like airbags should be standard across the range.

Many entry-level passenger cars and light commercial vehicles (bakkies and vans), only come with two front-mounted airbags for the driver and front passenger, providing minimal protection in a crash.

Side head protection, which comes in the form of curtain airbags, is usually reserved for higher trims.

Popular cars that fail the AA’s standards

TopAuto looked at the top 15 best-selling cars in South Africa in February 2026 to see which models would no longer be allowed if the country updated its regulations to match the AA’s views.

We checked whether curtain airbags were included as standard on the entry-level version of each car. For bakkies, we specifically looked at the double-cab models since they are more relevant to private motorists.

These were the results:

Nine of the cars from last month’s best-seller list fail to meet the AA’s proposed safety requirements.

While curtain airbags are available on the more expensive grades or as a paid extra, none of the models listed as banned has them as standard on the base specification.

Notably, the Ford Ranger is the only bakkie out of the four on the list to pass the test, but it is also the most expensive of the group, highlighting the fact that side head protection still comes at a premium.

South Africa’s car safety standards are too low

The AA’s primary issue with many of the cars sold in South Africa is that they are held to much lower safety standards than ones sold in other markets.

It recently highlighted multiple cases of locally-sold cars that received poor Global NCAP crash test safety ratings.

The Hyundai Grand i10 received a zero-star rating, while the Chery Tiggo 7 Pro and Toyota Corolla Cross both scored two stars out of five.

In the case of the latter, the Chery and Toyota models tested were the entry-level versions, which lack side pillar airbags.

“We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again, South African motorists deserve better, irrespective of the source or price point of a vehicle,” AA CEO Bobby Ramagwede said.

“This two-star rating reinforces the urgent need for all manufacturers to commit to equal safety for all markets.”

The AA also raised concerns over misleading industry practices with regards to safety advertising.

It noted that many companies use a car’s EURO NCAP rating in their marketing when selling cars in South Africa, but this is misleading, as cars sold in Europe adhere to much higher safety standards and are often built in different countries than those imported to South Africa.