ANCAP stands for Australian New Car Assessment Program. This is an Australian organisation that exists to give the public information on car safety tests and standards from an independent point of view. ANCAP is supported by government organisations in most Australian territories and in New Zealand, as well as by the Australian Automobile Association and the New Zealand Automobile Association.

An ANCAP test measures how much damage was done to the body of the structure of the vehicle, and measures the extent and type of injury that would be caused to the head, neck, chest and limbs of the car’s occupants. A car’s performance in the ANCAP test is shown either by the descriptions “Good”, “Acceptable”, “Marginal” or “Poor” (the old system) or by one to five stars, five being the highest possible score in an ANCAP test (the old system).

The ANCAP test puts cars through the same tests as the European NCAP test does. The tests used by the ANCAP test are the offset frontal crash test, which simulates the most common type of front-on collision (e.g. striking an oncoming vehicle), and the side impact test, which mimics the effect of a car being struck from the side, as would happen at an intersection. Recently, the ANCAP test has been extended to include pedestrian tests, where the impact of the vehicle striking an adult or a child at 40 km/hr is used. Crash test dummies are used in an ANCAP test to discover the injuries that would be inflicted on the passengers in the front seat (with seat belts).

Cars that recently scored very highly in the ANCAP test include the latest Honda Legend, the Peugot 207 and the Toyota Corolla, which all scored five stars in the regular ANCAP tests and three stars for pedestrian safety.
We hope that helps answer the question ‘What is What is ANCAP?’!

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