What is ANCAP?

The ANCAP acronym stands for Australasian New Car Assessment Program. It is also called ANCAP Safety and is an independent vehicle safety authority founded in 1992. Its first tests were published in 1993. 

The ANCAP is responsible for conducting a range of tests and assessment procedures on new passenger cars, SUVs and LCVs released in the Australasian region. The result of this assessment is then published as an ANCAP safety rating for the information of the public.  

To ensure that the rating they release is impartial and true to all production versions of a particular model, ANCAP does the sourcing of the test vehicle. This way, the resulting ANCAP rating will speak of the standard model without any modifications or added features. 

What is an ANCAP safety rating?

An ANCAP rating shows how a new model or variant performed in a series of simulated crash tests, the assessment of on-board safety systems and active collision-avoidance technologies, and the presence of post-crash vehicle safety information. All these tests are used to evaluate the level of protection that the car provides in the following key areas:

• Adult passenger and driver
• Child passenger
• Pedestrian and other road user
• Safety-assist systems 

ANCAP looks at these safety aspects from two perspectives – how the car provides protection in the event of an accident and whether it is equipped with relevant technology to avoid a crash or mitigate its effects. 

How does ANCAP conduct testing?

As mentioned above, ANCAP assesses four key areas – the protection of adult occupants, child occupants, and vulnerable road users, and the presence of safety assist features. So how are these areas gauged?

Simulated physical crash tests

Physical crash tests are conducted to determine the safety of a car in the event of an accident. ANCAP uses dummies to measure the impact of the simulated crash on the driver, child and adult passengers, pedestrians, and cyclists. In these simulated crash situations, ANCAP will also inspect the damage to the vehicle, on-board hazards, and the effectiveness of the built-in restraints.

Here are the latest (2020) simulated crash tests:

Frontal Offset

This is a simulation of a head-on collision (50% of the test model making contact on the driver's side) with a vehicle (1,400-kg trolley) travelling at the same speed (50 km/h) but opposite direction. The test uses two adult dummies in the front row and two child dummies with age-appropriate (6 and 10 years old) restraints.  

Full-Width Frontal

This test simulates a vehicle crashing head-on against a solid wall and head-on collision with a car travelling at the same speed (50 km/h) and having the same weight. In the simulation, the driver is a female dummy with another female dummy sitting in the rear seat. Both occupants are small-build females.

Side Impact

This test is done to recreate a T-bone collision which happens when two cars crash into each other at a 90-degree angle. The setup uses a 1,400-kg barrier with a crushable face and has a speed of 60 km/h.

Far-Side Impact

Two crash tests are done to assess the possible injuries brought about by the interactions of an occupant to another occupant or the vehicle interior during a far-side impact. The presence of centre airbags limits injuries of this type. 

Pedestrian Protection

The test speed in this simulation is 40 km/h and estimates the possible injuries to adult and child pedestrians when they hit the A-pillars, bonnet, front bumper and windscreen of the test vehicle. The test uses dummy head forms and leg forms instead of full-body dummies to represent pedestrians and vulnerable road users.

Oblique Pole

The oblique pole test recreates a run-off-road collision where the car departs the roadway and goes off the road, hitting a pole, tree, or structure at an oblique angle. The test places the vehicle at a 32-km/h speed and hits the pole at 75 degrees. The presence of curtain airbags reduces the likelihood of severe head injuries run-off-road crashes.

Whiplash

Whiplash head and neck injuries are commonly caused by rear-end car accidents, and this test simulates that type of vehicular crash. One of the seats of the test car is mounted to a mobile sled and thrust forward at 4.9 and 6.4 g-forces of acceleration to mimic a rear-end accident.

Performance tests on active safety systems

ANCAP rates a new vehicle’s ability to prevent collisions and accidents by its active safety technologies. The following tests measure this ability against a set of safety standards.

Autonomous emergency braking (AEB)

AEB systems get their information from cameras, radar/lidar tech and sensors, and uses these data to judge the distance and speed of vehicles or objects in their path or surroundings. ANCAP's AEB tests assess how this system reacts in various scenarios, such as avoiding collisions with stationary, moving, or braking vehicles. Its ability is also put to the test in situations where pedestrians and cyclists are present – at day or night time, at 90-degree turns, and when reversing. 

Lane support systems (LSS)

Lane departure warnings, lane-keeping assist, and emergency lane keeping comprise the LSS. The ANCAP tests the performance of this system on an outdoor test track to assess how it reacts and reduces crashing and how it reads lane markings and road edges. 

Automatic emergency steering (AES)

In situations when it is impossible to avoid collision by braking, the AES system takes over when the driver fails to steer into a clear adjacent lane in a timely manner. 

Speed assistance systems (SAS)

ANCAP evaluates the SAS by how it effectively keeps the driver informed of the current speed limit, issues a warning when the speed limit is exceeded, and actively prevents the vehicle from exceeding the threshold speed. 

Driving monitoring systems (DMS)

The DMS is a life-saving feature against driver fatigue and sleepiness, impairment and distractions. The DMS test measures how effective this system is in monitoring a driver’s level of alertness and attentiveness.

Presence of rescue cards or vehicle safety information

A test vehicle is also rated on whether it provides a rescue assist app (Rescue Card) or vehicle safety information. These digital assistants will give first responders crucial info about the car’s safety-relevant features and rescue hazards in the event of an accident. The easiest way for rescuers to access a car’s Rescue Card would be through the QR code on the car’s rescue sticker.

What are the maximum scores and how does a car get 5 stars?

For a test car to attain 5 stars, it must have the highest level of performance in all the tests and assessments mentioned above. Below are the latest (2020) maximum scores for each key area. 

A rating is represented by stars, ranging from 1 star to 5 stars, with 5 stars being the highest. It also includes the rating year date stamp which indicates the year that the vehicle was tested. More stringent criteria are adopted every two years, so if you’re looking for the safest car, you would want it to have the most number of stars and the latest rating year. 

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By JMSL