ANCAP reboots crash test system
An ‘egregious’ and ‘embarrassing’ issue with Aussie cars is being urgently addressed in order to make the streets safer for everyone.
COMMENT The new car smell isn’t always sweet.
Our team of motoring experts been saying it for years – that many of the so-called safety features in the latest cars are often annoying and occasionally dangerous.
We’ve taken aim at awful features such as the broken driver monitoring system in Mitsubishi’s Triton, and over-the-top alarms in the Deepal S07 we called “Australia’s most annoying car”.
Both of those models were fixed with running changes as a result of brutally honest feedback from customers and the motoring media.
MORE: Australia’s most annoying car
Car makers have listened to feedback from buyers outraged by crap ergonomics and an over-reliance on touchscreens with brands ranging from VW to Ferrari ditching the frustration of glossy swipe-to-adjust controls on the steering wheel in favour of plain old buttons.
Good.
Now safety authorities are waking up to a problem they helped create.
Modern cars must have a variety of driver assistance features – stuff like auto emergency braking, lane keeping assistance and driver distraction monitoring – in order to get a five star safety score from ANCAP, the Australasian New Car Assessment Program.
From next year, ANCAP will go beyond assessing whether such systems are present, or if they work, to examining how they affect drivers.
MORE: Mitsubishi reworks in-car driver monitoring
Systems that are too annoying, frustrating or jerky will lose points, compromising a car’s safety score. Which makes sense, given that many people want to turn these features off every time they hop in a car.
The safety body’s chief executive, Carla Hoorweg, says “you’ve spoken and we have listened”.
Key changes to the safety process include breaking down scores into four “Stages of Safety”.
The “safe driving” set will encourage car makers to fit easily understood controls to cars and watch occupants to make sure their seatbelts aren’t just plugged in, but are used correctly.
Cars could lose points for having overly complicated touchscreens that make you swipe, tap, scroll and prod to access basic features.
The “crash avoidance” pillar will assess features such as lane departure warning, pedestrian detection and auto emergency braking, while the traditional “crash protection” pillar evaluates the performance of airbags and vehicle structures in a physical crash.
Lastly, a “post crash” element awards points for cars that can automatically call for help following a collision, as well as how easy it is to extract people from broken cars.
MORE: Huge ute concern triggers ANCAP safety tests
Fancy flush-fitting doorhandles must work properly after a crash, and electric cars should shut down their high-voltage battery after a serious collision.
These are good changes.
Car makers are encouraged to innovate, such as by using the car’s camera-based pedestrian detection system to determine whether absent-minded drivers accidentally press the accelerator instead of the brake with people close by, preventing tragedy.
In-car “big brother” cameras will go beyond watching drivers for signs of inattention to monitor how seatbelts are used.
It’s not enough for cars to beep and bong if a seatbelt isn’t plugged in – cameras will start watching to see if the seatbelt is behind someone’s back or passing under their arm, rather than over their shoulder.
MORE: Crash test exposes failure
Lastly, the safety body has also moved to address its most egregious failure of 2025.
Earlier this year, the seat failed in an outrageous crash test of an MG3 hatchback that saw its score raised from three to four stars, despite a significant flaw that triggered a global recall.
We said it was “embarrassing”, and “evidence the vehicle safety testing system is broken”.
To its credit, ANCAP listened, and put in a special clause in its scoring system to make sure the MG3’s failure – and subsequent increase in score – can never happen again.
It says that “If the seat or seat rails fail in a crash test, an automatic 50 per cent loss of points per test will apply to the Crash Protection score”.
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