The safest cars on the road offer up to five times more protection in crashes compared to cars that only meet the minimum safety requirements. Check how safe your car is (new or used).
Australian New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP) conducts a comprehensive crash testing program on an extensive range of new models each year. These tests are undertaken in strictly controlled conditions to compare occupant injury levels in frontal and side impacts.
While all vehicles on Australian roads are required to meet minimum safety standards, as set out in the Australian Design Rules, ANCAP provides a direct comparison of a vehicle’s crash performance in the form of a simple star-based rating system.
New car safety ratings.
The 2004 Used Car Safety Rating project is the world’s largest ever survey of real life vehicle crash results and has been used to rank the safety performance of 255 of the most popular models on Australian roads.
Driving the worst performing vehicles means you stand up to a five times greater chance of serious injury or death if you are in a serious crash than if you are in the best vehicle.
The study combines the results of more than 1.5 million on-road crashes which resulted in over 400,000 drivers being injured, and rates 255 vehicles models built between 1982 and 2002. It shows how well they protect their occupants in real-world crashes and also looks at how they may injure occupants in other vehicles if they collide.
Used car safety ratings.