ANCAP Safety Ratings

ANCAP Safety Ratings Explained

ANCAP safety ratings are published for a range of new passenger, sports utility (SUV) and light commercial vehicles (LCV) entering the Australian and New Zealand markets, using a rating system of 0 to 5 stars.

ANCAP star ratings indicate the level of safety a vehicle provides for occupants and pedestrians in the event of a crash, as well as its ability — through technology — to avoid or minimise the effects of a crash. These independent safety ratings are used to compare the relative safety between vehicles of similar mass.

ANCAP safety ratings are determined based on a series of internationally recognised, independent crash tests and safety assessments – involving a range of destructive physical crash tests, an assessment of on-board safety features and equipment, and performance testing of active collision avoidance technologies.

From 1 January 2018, vehicles will be evaluated against four key areas:

1. Adult Occupant Protection (AOP)
2. Child Occupant Protection (COP)
3. Vulnerable Road User Protection (VRU)
4. Safety Assist (SA)

A range of tests and assessments are conducted within each area, with vehicles required to meet minimum score thresholds for each star rating level. The overall star rating of a vehicle is limited by its lowest performing area of assessment.

To achieve the maximum 5 star ANCAP safety rating, a vehicle must perform to the highest level across all crash tests and assessments.

When buying a car, what should you look for?

To encourage continuous improvement by vehicle brands and ensure consumers are provided with the safest cars possible, ANCAP’s test criteria has increased incrementally over its 25 year history. 

In 2018, the ANCAP safety rating system experiences its greatest change to date – implementing new test and assessment protocols and scoring methods that are common across Australasia (Australia & New Zealand) and Europe.

While ANCAP’s rating criteria broadens, the message remains simple.

Look for a vehicle which holds the maximum 5 star ANCAP safety rating with the latest ‘datestamp’.

ANCAP are increasing the requirements needed to achieve a 5 star rating to keep Australians and New Zealanders safer. The Rating Year datestamp is the easiest way to tell how current an ANCAP safety rating is.

The datestamp is an important element that sits alongside each ANCAP safety rating – it identifies the assessment criteria a vehicle has been tested against.