Five-star safety fallout

FEDERAL and state governments should buy only cars with five-star crash ratings in light of last week's historic result for the Ford FG Falcon, according to Australia's peak crash testing authority.

The chairman of the Australasian New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP), Lauchlan McIntosh, said that governments would demonstrate leadership and care for its employees, as well as raising wider consumer awareness by purchasing only five-star cars.

Mr McIntosh described the Falcon's five-star rating as “a great result” and congratulated Ford Australia's engineering staff for the achievement – the first for an Australian-made car.

At the same time, he said that Ford's success in achieving the rating without the benefit of side curtain airbags – once considered essential to score five stars – raised the possibility of changing the ANCAP scoring system and even introducing a six-star score to give manufacturers a higher level to reach.

From left: Trevor Worthington, Lauchlan McIntosh and Bill Osborne. Ford Australia engineering chief Trevor Worthington said that the entry-level XT Falcon achieved the top score because the front side airbags fitted to Falcons without curtain airbags (which are only standard on upper-spec models) are bigger and provide not only chest protection but also head protection.

Curtain airbags provide head protection for rear occupants also, but Ford Australia says that most XT Falcons are fleet cars and rarely carry rear-seat passengers.

Mr McIntosh said he would still like to see all cars fitted with curtain airbags to provide the maximum protection, but nevertheless believes that Ford Australia should be rewarded for its five-star rating with extra sales, especially from businesses and government.

He said it would be better for governments to apply commercial pressure on car-makers and importers through such a purchasing policy than by adding another layer of red tape in the form of a new Australian Design Rule (ADR) mandating minimum crash standards.

“Ford has led the way here in Australia with this result,” said Mr McIntosh. “Now we need consumers to reward them and buy the car.

“Governments have rightly set an agenda to encourage fuel efficiency and low emissions in new cars... but road crashes cost Australians about $17 billion a year and we know that safer cars save lives and save injuries.

“How much would it cost governments to have a purchasing policy just to buy five-star cars? That would be a nice thing if we got the minister to announce today they would only buy five-star cars from next week – and you would have to ask, why isn't that so? How simple would that be to do? That would cost the Australian taxpayer nothing and we'd all be better off.

“We've got a $500 million Green Car Fund – here's an initiative that would cost a lot less and make a difference. Let's have a safer car program.

“There's absolutely no reason now [with the Falcon result] why they shouldn't make that decision – it's a lot easier than mucking around with ADRs. We've got too much regulation in Australia – it makes it difficult for manufacturers, it makes it difficult for consumers to work out what's going on – so here is a simple way that governments collectively can change their purchasing policies.” Mr McIntosh said that he proposed his scheme to federal transport minister Andrew Albanese and industry minister Kim Carr, but has been advised only that “they are considering it”.

ANCAP also wants all car companies to voluntarily display crash ratings on new cars at dealerships, just as they do with fuel consumption and emissions.

However, even though it intends doing just this to promote the Falcon and its imported five-star cars, Ford Australia has no plans to put labels on all its vehicles (which includes the two-star Ranger ute).

Ford Australia president Bill Osborne said it will display crash ratings on five-star cars only, but was happy to provide information on all cars “if consumers want it”.

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