What does ANCAP do and why do we need it?

Thursday, 15 August 2019

What is ANCAP?

The acronym stands for Australasian New Car Assessment Programme, an independent organisation with no ties nor commitment to the new vehicle market. Effectively, it exists to support consumers, assisting them to make safe driving choices.  

Crash testing dates back to 1978. The United States became the first country to come up with a programme to provide car crashworthiness information to consumers, which eventually expanded to crash testing and reporting the results. The American NCAP model formed the basis for similar programmes in other regions. A number of countries and regions have their own vehicle safety rating programmes.

In addition to the Australasian NCAP there is Euro NCAP, Japan NCAP, ASEAN NCAP, China NCAP, Korean NCAP, Latin America NCAP and Global NCAP. The latter is the newest, an independent charity registered in the United Kingdom formed in 2011, its role is to enhance cooperation between the various NCAPs and primarily promote vehicle crash-testing and reporting in emerging markets. 'Safer Cars For India' and 'Safer Cars For Africa' are its key initiatives at the moment.

**READ MORE:

* Should one-star crash-test cars be banned? The AA says no

* The lowest crash test score in a decade

* Updated Ford Mustang safer, but still only three stars**

ANCAP is the world's second oldest NCAP. It was established in 1992 with the first test results published in 1993. That year it became the first such organisation to introduce a frontal offset test.

What does it do?

Well, basically, crashes vehicles – specifically new passenger and light commercial vehicles - but it's all carefully defined. They use specially-built facilities in scenarios (ANCAP's is at Huntingwood, New South Wales) designed to simulate real world situations.

The outcomes are carefully considered and scored, as a star rating. Vehicles must achieve minimum scores across all physical crash tests for each ANCAP safety rating level.

The stars indicate the level of safety for occupants and pedestrians in a crash, as well as an indication of a car's ability to avoid a crash altogether through technology fitted. Five stars is the highest count, one is the lowest. Three stars is barely borderline these days.

ANCAP recommends consumers only buy five-star rated vehicles; NZAA is a bit more lenient, suggesting going no lower than four stars.

How many vehicles has ANCAP crashed?

It claims more than 500 outcomes. However, because ANCAP also accepts crash data from related organisations like Euro NCAP to formulate ratings, it hasn't crashed that many cars.

Who pays for this?

New Zealand and Australian motorists, but not directly out of our pockets.

The NZ Government and our leading motorists' organisation, the NZ Automobile Association are the two contributors on this side of the Tasman. 

The Australian federal government – which came on board in 2010 - currently funds half of ANCAP's annual budget. 

Other partners in the Lucky Country include various state and territory governments, the Victorian Transport Accident Commission and state automobile clubs. There are 23 partners in all.

Do car brands like it?

Generally brands keep their grumbling to themselves; independent crash testing is now seen as a fact of life, so any criticism is usually couter-productive.

That's how it is now. In the early years, the brands were braver in speaking out. Thing changed when outfits that did well began using the scores in their advertising, as a reason to buy. 

Makers still remain wary of standardised laboratory crash tests, on grounds that ANCAP scores do not necessarily correlate with data from real-world crashes. They also point out that real-world physics are not treated uniformly. Under ANCAP's rules, a 1000kg city car and two-tonne SUV or limousine can receive the same five-star crash score.

Nonetheless, you no longer hear car companies decry the scores as irrelevant in the real world. It's counter-productive; the car buying public has definitely built up trust in the ANCAP system.

Anyway, as everyone knows, there's nothing a marketing department likes more than a five-star crash safety rating in promoting new models. Safety sells, pure and simple.

So, regardless of how much (or little credibility) anyone gives to the scores, the crash body deserves credit for performing a vital role in putting safety on buyers' shopping lists.

Do the ratings stand the test of time?

To a degree. The bar has progressively raised to keep pace with improvement in technology; so a five star car from 10 years ago could conceivably only become a three star car if it was tested again today.

Logically, so it should. Back then the systems that are commonplace now were barely known. 

For example, it's only been since 2008 that the inclusion of electronic stability control (ESC) has been mandatory before a vehicle could achieve the maximum. Prior to that seatbelt reminders was a must-have. As of last year, autonomous emergency braking has become requisite. 

Pub trivia: the first car to receive a five star ANCAP rating was the Renault Laguna, in 2001.

The first Australian-built car to achieve this score was the 2008 FG Ford Falcon followed by the 2008 VE Holden Commodore later that year. Toyota's Camry, which was also built in Australia until all car manufacturing there ended in 2017, didn't get to five stars until 2011.

Are all crash tests the same?

No. Australia's crash safety rating system most closely aligns with the European NCAP programme, which established in 1997. ANCAP began testing and assessing vehicles in accordance with the Euro NCAP protocols in 1999 yet the two schedules only fell wholly into line on January 1 this year.

Its previous scoring system – a best of 37 points tally – was dropped in favour of the Euro NCAP model of four pillars of safety performance, including adult occupant protection, child occupant protection, pedestrian protection and safety assist system assessment.

Is NCAP necessary?

Yes. Vehicles sold in this country are subject to different design regulations and may carry different specifications to models sold internationally. Crash testing to a common regime delivers a level playing field. 

It's often cited that crash test organisations tend to source cars themselves to avoid any possibility of vehicles being specially prepared. Although ANCAP does not keep close ties to car companies, it has accepted cars submitted for testing as opposed to buying its own test examples.

Okay, but is ANCAP necessary?

That very question has been raised from time to time; not least in light of Ford, then Holden and finally Toyota closing their respective local manufacturing operations across the water.

However, the issue was effectively side-lined from May 2018, when Australia's federal government extended its ANCAP funding until at least 2023, on grounds that ANCAP's work is vital to improving the safety of vehicles on our roads and ensuring consumers are informed about vehicle safety.

ANCAP says the extension of funding will help expand the range of tests it already conducts.

What about cars that don't get rated?

Most popular new cars on the NZ market are ANCAP or Euro NCAP rated.

Our dark secret that no-one seems to want to face up to is that used import vehicles from Japan, especially domestic variants that were not intended for export, are not evaluated by ANCAP. 

You'd be surprised how many vehicles that is. The used trade has diminished but it still accounts for enough annual volume to explain why the national fleet age now stands at close to 14 years (higher than it was before NZ opened up to ex-Japan pre-owned fare). It would seem relevant to question why we invest so much effort trying to persuade car buyers to make safest choices when we also allow unchecked access to vehicles that sidestep any such scrutiny.

Also, some high-end luxury and extreme performance road legal cars do not undergo crash testing: you drive your Bugatti or Ferrari at your own peril.