Getting To Know ANCAP’s Car Safety Ratings

August 4th, 2023

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When buying a new car, safety is always on top of everyone’s list, and rightfully so, especially if you always have precious cargo: you and your loved ones.

Fortunately, there are several ways to check if the car you’re looking into buying is safe on the road – and one of them is provided by the Australasian New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP).

So, before buying that new car and heading on that adventure, here’s everything you need to know about ANCAP’s safety ratings. This way, you can make a fully-informed choice as you buy your dream car.

In this article, we’ll explain how the ANCAP Vehicle Safety Ratings work to guide you in your research for your next car purchase.

What is an ANCAP safety rating?

The Australasian New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP) is an independent voice on vehicle safety for Australia and New Zealand that has been publishing safety ratings for new vehicle makes, models and variants since 1992.

ANCAP uses star ratings (from 1 through 5) to indicate the level of safety that a car provides for both occupants and pedestrians in the event of a crash. It also incorporates the technology that a vehicle model has to avoid or minimise the impact of a crash. So far, ANCAP has tested around 900 car models available in Australia and New Zealand.

To check how safe a car is, you can search for the model and make here: ANCAP Safety Ratings.

Important note: safety standards change over the years and ANCAP adapts to this. This is why the ANCAP website clearly includes the year when the car model has been tested – as such, a 5-star rating in 2002 may not be as reliable as a 5-star rating in 2022.

When checking the ANCAP safety rating, ideally, you want a model that has 5 stars and has been tested in the last 6 years.

How does ANCAP rate the safety of vehicles?

ANCAP conducts a series of internationally recognised, independent crash tests and safety assessments to determine the safety rating of each new vehicle. This involves:

• a range of physical crash tests
• an assessment of onboard safety features and equipment
• performance testing of active collision avoidance technologies

All vehicles are evaluated and rated in these four key areas:

• Adult Occupant Protection
  This is an assessment of the level of protection for adults seated in the front and second row of a car during the most common injury-causing vehicle crash scenarios.
• Child Occupant Protection
  This considers the level of protection that children seated in the rear seats with appropriate child restraints get. ANCAP also tests the inclusion and effectiveness of safety features for children, including the ability of vehicles to accommodate the most common child restraints.
• Vulnerable Road User Protection
  This area evaluates the vehicle’s ability to minimise injury risk to a struck pedestrian or cyclist as well as the tech inclusions included to avoid or reduce impact with other road users.
• Safety Assist
  This criterion rates the inclusion and effectiveness of additional collision avoidance technology in vehicles that may prevent or minimise the risk of a crash.

To earn a 5-star ANCAP rating, a vehicle must perform at a high level across ALL four key categories.

What do ANCAP ratings look like?

Let’s look at an example.

Take the top-selling car in Australia in June 2023: the Toyota Hilux. The Toyota Hilux received a 5-star rating in 2019, with the following assessment scores:

The 5-star rating was given after the vehicle model performed well during the tests performed across all the key categories.

What vehicle safety tests are done to get an ANCAP safety rating?

ANCAP simulates the most common types of on-road crashes to assess their effects on adult and child occupants, as well as pedestrians, all using crash test dummies.

Physical crash tests include:

• frontal impact
• side impact
• run-off-road
• rear-end
• pedestrian strikes

The technologies assessed for the Safety Assist category, on the other hand, include:

• car-to-car, car-to-pedestrian and car-to-cyclist autonomous emergency braking (AEB) systems,
• lane support systems (LSS),
• automatic emergency steering (AES)
• and speed assistance systems (SAS).

If you’re curious about these, you can watch the test simulations here: How ANCAP tests cars for safety.

The ANCAP rating requirements are updated every 3 years to encourage the inclusion of the latest safety features in the new cars that are available in Australia and New Zealand.

Road safety is everyone’s concern, and it helps to have access to reliable vehicle safety ratings that can guide you towards choosing the vehicle that can take you and your family safely on your next adventure.

With all these safety concerns and other complexities involves in the car-buying experience, it helps to have a vehicle expert who can guide you.

So, if you have questions about cars, ANCAP safety ratings and how you can choose the right vehicle for you, simply reach out to us for a chat.

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