Why does ANCAP matter?

• Published date: 27 May 2023

● Adult occupant protection – how safe is the car for the driver and adult passengers

● Child occupant protection – how safe is it for children?

● Vulnerable road user protection – how safe will a cyclist or pedestrian be if the car hits them?

● Safety assist – how much is the car doing to keep people safe?

At its accredited labs (mainly in Australia), ANCAP crash tests cars and looks at their safety features and technologies. Based on the results, each car gets a star rating to indicate its relative safety performance. The rating is valid for six years.

You can find out the rating of a car at the ANCAP website, or via your local dealership. ANCAP helps compare similar models Because ANCAP provides a relative safety rating, it’s very useful for comparing cars of similar size and weight. For example: finding the safest large SUV for your family, or finding the safest small city runaround. It’s not necessarily going to be as accurate when comparing a large SUV to a compact car, so use the ratings across categories, not across all models. The standard is always improving A car is given a rating of between zero (least safe) and five (most safe) stars. Five stars is the maximum, but the standard required to reach a five-star rating changes over time. ANCAP...