Buying a car? Here’s what you need to know about new safety ratings |
Most people know about car safety ratings and many take them seriously when choosing a new car.
In Australia and New Zealand, safety ratings are issued by the Australasian New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP), a non-regulatory, not-for-profit organisation that tests new vehicles and publishes results.
ANCAP has announced significant changes from 2026.
Here’s how the ratings have traditionally been determined, what is changing and what it all means for safety on our roads.
How car safety rating works
A majority of Australians say they wouldn’t buy a car that hasn’t achieved a five-star rating.
Manufacturers know this too. Those stars influence which features companies prioritise and what specifications they supply to different markets.
Yet unless you closely follow the car industry, you may not know much about what is actually tested.
ANCAP assigns vehicles a safety rating from zero to five stars based on a mix of crash tests, assessments of on-board safety features and the safety technologies built into the car.
Its rating system has evolved over time. Under the framework introduced in recent years, vehicles are assessed across four key pillars.
1. Adult occupant protection. This looks at how well the car structure protects the driver and passengers in the most common crashes, assessed using crash-test dummies equipped with sensors. These tests include frontal (head-on) and side impacts, pole crashes, whiplash protection and how easy it is for emergency services to access occupants after a crash.
2. Child........