SHOULD MY FLEET BE 100 % ANCAP 5-STAR ?
WORDS BY RICHARD SCHUSTER
Questions are being raised by fleet managers about the almost mandatory inclusion in fleet safety policies of ANCAP 5-star compliance for their fleet vehicles . These questions have arisen because of at least two issues : a number of popular fleet vehicles now exceed the six-year window for date stamping , and some manufacturers are now choosing to sell vehicles without 5-star compliance . What should fleet managers do ?
The first thing to do here is to ask the right question . In this case , the correct question is , “ Are my drivers , passengers and the community safe in our vehicles ?”, not “ Are my vehicles 5-star ?” Of course , 5-star vehicles are safe and including a 5-star safety threshold in your fleet policy for passenger and urban light commercial vehicles makes a lot of sense . For many fleets , this will be sufficient .
However , a number of fleets have rural / remote applications that require more complex fleet solutions . Some of the vehicle types regularly used in such fleets do not , or will soon not have , a 5-star rating beside their name . One such example is the Landcruiser 79 series single cab ,
cab chassis . It has been reclassified by Toyota into the “ NB ” medium commercial category , with a GVM > 3,500kg . I ’ ve chosen this vehicle because it presents the fleet manager with an interesting scenario :
• It now includes AEB , which is not mandatory for vehicles > 3,500kg
• It does not meet ADR 85 ’ s side-impact regulations ( mandatory if < 3,500kg )
• The six-year date stamp for this vehicle expires on 31 / 12 / 2023 which is ANCAP ’ s amended expiry date for vehicles tested pre- 2018 .
Clearly this is a safe vehicle . It achieved a 5-star ANCAP rating in 2016 , and now has AEB included , incorporating pedestrian and cyclist detection . But any of these vehicles manufactured from 1 / 1 / 2024 will not have an ANCAP rating and will be “ unrated ”. What should a fleet manager do ?
In consultation with key internal stakeholders ( H & S , Risk , Key operational staff , etc ) and suppliers , the fleet manager should identify the safest applicable vehicles using a category
12 ISSUE 43 OCTOBER 2023 / WWW . AFMA . ORG . AU