Citation

Haley J, Paine M, Newland C, Worden S, Paine D. Proc. Australas. Road Safety Res. Policing Educ. Conf. 2010; 14.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2010, copyright holder varies, Publisher Monash University)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

The Australasian New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP) crash tests vehicles and assigns an occupant protection rating out of five stars. Most NCAP organisations usually only test and rate one variant of a vehicle model. Other variants may differ from the tested vehicle in a number of ways. These factors include: body style, engine, transmission, mass and mass distribution, safety features and crashworthiness-related structure. They can all be expected to influence the crash test results to some degree. Historically, NCAPs around the world have not made any claims or statements about these untested variants. There is an increasing demand for information about the star rating of non-tested variants of models. One reason is that many vehicle fleets now insist on a minimum 4- or 5-star rating for the new vehicles that they purchase. During 2009 a working group of ANCAP considered ways in which a star rating could be extended from the tested variant to other variants. This paper sets out the results of that review and the policy that has now been published by ANCAP. This policy allows the rating of many more variants and provides benefits for consumers, ANCAP and vehicle manufacturers.