Above: This Week’s Car Review – 2020 navara N-Trek Warrior – How easy to drive and park?
Why Is the ANCAP Safety Rating So Important?
You might be surprised that a modern car could do badly in crash tests, but not all new cars are the same.
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There are others too, take Mustang for example, it is pretty, very pretty. However, safety tests revealed flaws in the design. In some tests, pedestrian safety was so appalling that it if it was a school exam, the student would have passed, but been sent to the back of the class.
Similar results for adult and child protection occurred during other crash tests. Adults scored 72% and children, just 32%
Each programme costs $1,000,000AUD, plus 5 cars. Each car is tested to destruction. In Mustang’s case, active safety scored just 16%. These results improved once the update was applied.
The revised Ford Mustang entered Australian and New Zealand markets 12 months after revised left-hand-drive models were made available for the European market.
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- DON’T Drive YOUR CAR until you’ve Checked if your AIRBAG will KILL YOU
- Give the Gift that Keeps on Giving: ANCAP 5 stars please!
- ANCAP Safety Rating date stamps limited to 6 years
- AMA & ANCAP call for new technology to be standard features in Australian cars to save lives
- Ford’s updated Mustang still only 3 star safety rating
- Why is Jeep So Bad?
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Critics of the rating system insist that it is little more than a “marketing exercise”. Nothing could be further from the truth. Each test assesses how a car performs in specific circumstances. The higher the rating, the better, and safer, the car is.
Jeep Wrangler is another example of a car that performed poorly in earlier tests. It was retsted for a new model in 2019. Active safety was improved, but intrusions into the cabin resulted in a rating of just 3 stars.
Importantly, Wrangler scored an appalling 0/8 for oblique pole, and 3.89/8 for frontal offset. Front on test score was an equally unimpressive 5.72/8. In Wrangler’s case, I would not be willing to drive it.
More importantly, would you put your family into either of those cars?
Japanese, Korean, and European cars scored highly. Normally, 5 stars is the standard car makers strive for. Changes to ANCAP over recent years now include active safety features like lane control assistance, blind spot monitoring, and autonomous emergency braking.
Some of the Chinese brands scored poorly in early tests, but have improved since. Great Wall’s Steed still only manages 2 stars from its 2015 test. Were it to be tested now, the scored might be even lower.
All tests are identical as a way to assess each model against a preset criterion.
Tests are regularly updated as safety gadgets become available, and technology improves.
Alan Zurvas is the founder and editor of Gay Car Boys, Australia's leading LGBTQI+ automotive publication. Before launching GCB in 2008, Alan's automotive writing was published in SameSame.com.au and the Star Observer. With over 16 years of hands-on car reviewing experience, Alan brings an honest, irreverent voice to every review — championing value and innovation over brand loyalty.
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