I guess with so many vehicles getting
5-star ratings it can be hard to differentiate
between models. How can fleet buyers
make sure they are making the safest
purchase for their fleet? Would ANCAP ever
consider adding more stars to make this
comparison easier?
Our testing has evolved and it continues to
evolve to ensure that vehicle manufacturers are
introducing the highest levels of safety across
the fleet. With that evolution comes the need to
identify those year requirements against which a
vehicle was assessed. Internationally we, along
with Euro NCAP and the other NCAPs around
the world, continue to work within that five-star
rating system. So there’s no plan at this point to
increase to six or seven or eight stars.
That differentiator then becomes the “tested”
year date stamp. And that’s a key element that
consumers and fleet buyers should refer to,
as the more recent the date stamp, the more
stringent the criteria that the vehicle has been
assessed against. That’s really important. One of
our key messages we share with fleet purchasers
is to not only look for and purchase 5-star rated
vehicles, but look for a model which has that
most recent date stamp. Then you’ll ensure that
you’re purchasing a car which has the highest
levels of safety inclusion.
2020 is obviously a big year for ANCAP in
terms of updating your testing standards yet
again. What is the main reasoning? Why do
you keep making new changes?
Every couple of years we raise the bar and in
2020 we’ve raised it again. We want to promote
further vehicle safety improvements and, of
course, address some of the new challenges
we’re seeing on our roads. Some of the most
significant changes this year include the new
frontal offset test. Rather than the test vehicle
striking a static barrier we now have a moving
trolley which mimics the oncoming car. 2020 also
sees an update to our side impact test and the
introduction of new far side testing.
We already conduct autonomous emergency
braking (AEB) assessments where we’re looking
at avoiding a rear end crash with another vehicle.
But this year we introduced AEB backover and
AEB junction tests which looks at a vehicle
turning through an intersection with an oncoming
car or pedestrian. We’ve also introduced a test
that simulates autonomous braking in reverse,
along with automatic emergency steering.
If there’s a backlog of vehicles wanting to be
tested, how does ANCAP decide which one
is going to be tested first?
The way ANCAP determines which vehicles we
rate predominantly comes from the popularity
and volume of vehicles sold. We want to ensure
that the vehicles we are rating are relevant to
the market. So the ones that are more popular
with consumers are prioritised in our testing.
But equally if there are new market entrants or
vehicles that we might be somewhat curious of
in terms of their safety performance, they’re also
elevated onto our schedule.
We currently have coverage of 96% of the new
vehicle fleet. So that means 96% of all new
vehicles sold have ANCAP rating, and 91% are
meeting the 5-star standard. Vehicle brands
12 ISSUE 23 2020 / WWW.AFMA.ORG.AU