ANCAP holds firm

AUSTRALIA’S new car assessment program (ANCAP) has no plan to change its rating system in the wake of an announcement last week that Euro NCAP will incorporate pedestrian protection in its overall rating from 2009.

Euro NCAP will in future also consider active safety systems such as electronic stability control, which this year became mandatory for a five-star rating in Australia.

The Europeans is concerned that, while 33 of the 34 cars tested in the past year scored four or five stars for occupant protection, two-thirds of them scored only two stars (out of four) for pedestrian protection.

ANCAP chairman Lauchlan McIntosh told GoAuto that the Australian rating system will not be changed immediately to match the new European regime, but that his organisation was still keen to promote pedestrian safety.

“We’re pretty keen to focus on the pedestrian results, but we’re not sure that adding that into the total will actually make that much difference in the Australian market,” Mr McIntosh told us.

“There is some discussion that, if you add the pedestrian rating, as Euro NCAP are doing, everybody might just (settle for) four stars and be done with it, rather than try to get five stars.

“We think it might be better to actually focus on the pedestrian results quite separately.” As a result, it is likely that cars downgraded to four stars overall in Europe will continue to be awarded five stars in Australia on the strength of their crash test performance.

“Yes, it’s likely that you will have a situation where you have a car that’s five-star in one country and four-star in another,” said Mr McIntosh.

“That’s already the situation in the United States, where they’ve split the rating based on different passenger seats – they’ve made a massive change in the way they rate each position and it’s extremely complicated.

Left: Renault Koleos ENCAP crash test.



“We’re watching how (the new European system) will work and how it will evolve (but) less and less of our cars are European-based. More of our cars are Japanese and Korean and Thai, so … it’s more important for us to look at Japan NCAP results and even Korean NCAP, which is starting up.

“Of course, we’ll have the Chinese cars coming in as well, so we’ll be testing those to our own protocols and rating them for the Australian market. We’ve got some lined up in the next six months or so. There’s no reason why they shouldn’t get it right.” One point on which Mr McIntosh agrees with Euro NCAP is the decision to keep five stars as the maximum score because consumers understand that.

“I don’t think it makes any difference,” he said. “What was a five-star hotel 10 years ago isn’t a five-star hotel today. I don’t think it’s that big a drama. Over time, you just modify the hurdles that people have to jump.” Mr McIntosh made the point that the Australian Design Rules were once the hurdle that the car-makers had to jump, but these days a car that simply meets the ADRs would rate at little more one star.

Euro NCAP announced the launch of its new 2009 rating system at the same time that it released the results for five new cars – the Daihatsu Cuore, Hyundai i30, Lancia Delta, Renault Koleos and Mercedes Benz ML-class – noting that four of the five received the maximum five-star award for adult occupant protection (the Daihatsu scored four stars) but none achieved higher than a two-star pedestrian rating.

The organisation said that, when Euro NCAP was established in 1997, the achievement of five stars in adult occupant protection did not even seem possible, yet now it is a regular occurrence.

Euro NCAP secretary-general Michiel van Ratingen said that there are still areas of safety where lives could be saved that need to be prioritised by manufacturers.

“I am delighted that more and more manufacturers are achieving five stars in our crash-tests, but it is imperative that Euro NCAP continues to set higher benchmarks for car makers to aspire to. Our new rating system will do this,” said Mr van Ratingen.

“I have no doubt that manufacturers will step up to the challenge, just as they did when we first started.

“The creation of new technologies means enhanced safety performance and a potential reduction of fatalities on our roads. We intend to reward those manufacturers that make this their ultimate goal.” Euro NCAP said it is concerned that many manufacturers set out to achieve high scores for adult occupant protection to attract consumers, while compromising safety investment in other areas.

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