ANCAP toughens lane safety testing

Independent automotive safety authority ANCAP is rushing an update into its testing protocols for 2024 to combat poorly calibrated lane-keeping safety systems.

ANCAP protocols are usually updated every three years, with the latest overhaul recently introduced for 2023, but ANCAP is toughening up LSS testing ‘mid-cycle’ in response to its own experiences and consumer feedback.

The change will make it harder to achieve the maximum and coveted five-star rating that manufacturers use in their promotion of new vehicles.

But ANCAP testing is not mandatory and is often assessing systems such as lane-keeping that are not yet required by law to be fitted to new vehicles.

Advanced autonomous driver-assist systems that use sensors to try to keep the vehicle in its lane have become commonplace in recent years.

But the quality of their calibration varies widely, from subtly supportive to egregiously intrusive. One of the worst examples tested by carsales was the GWM Tank 300, but there are numerous examples of intrusive and annoying systems in new vehicles, often at the more affordable end of the market.

They can react with violent steering inputs and sometimes to non-existent threats.

Some are so poorly executed ANCAP believes they can be counter-productive, instead encouraging the driver to switch them off, a process that in many cases has to be repeated each time the vehicle is started.

“The last thing we want to see is consumers switching these life-saving systems off,” ANCAP chief executive officer Carla Hoorweg told carsales.

The 2024 update will focus on the ‘Emergency Lane Keeping (ELK) Oncoming’ scenario, where a vehicle crosses the centreline and autonomously swerves back into its lane.

The new protocol will assess the severity of the steering’s response. Currently, the test only establishes that the system does respond.

ANCAP wants to see ELK provide a low overriding torque that allows co-operative steering with the driver, or be smart enough to differentiate between intentional and unintentional lane departures and suppress undesired interventions.

In addition, ANCAP is also understood to be encouraging car-makers to minimise the audible warnings some new vehicles now issue for a variety of alleged driving threats and transgressions. Like overly intrusive LSS, they are regarded as a distraction from safe driving.

For the scheduled 2026 update, ANCAP is planning to toughen a wider spectrum of advanced driver-assistance systems – or ADAS – tested under the heading of Safety Assist.

The other three test categories are Adult Occupant Protection, Child Occupant Protection and Vulnerable Road User Protection.

To achieve the maximum five stars, a tested vehicle must reach a specified points threshold in each of the four categories. Failure to do so in any category means the car cannot be rated five stars.

Under 2023 protocols Safety Assist is worth a maximum 18 points, with a minimum 12.6 points required to meet the five-star Safety Assist threshold.

The ELK Oncoming scenario is worth 0.5 points, so a poor performance would impact the result and potentially cost a five-star rating.

Along with its upgrade to LSS testing, Hoorweg confirmed ANCAP was also communicating its concerns about poorly calibrated systems to car-makers.

“ANCAP will be… providing feedback to manufacturers on the potential refinement of systems so that they continue to meet the levels of safety performance expected through ANCAP criteria while also providing an expected level of customer experience,” she said.

“Customers with concerns about how an individual vehicle is performing are encouraged report their concerns to the manufacturer.”

Hoorweg said the positives of well-tuned driver assist systems being tested and promoted by ANCAP were undeniable.

“Independent economic analysis shows safety technologies encouraged by ANCAP, including LSS, had an estimated economic benefit of more than $420 million as a result of fatalities and serious injuries avoided – after accounting for the cost to manufacturers of supplying these technologies,” she said.