Broadening the scope of ANCAP

Where do you draw the line? Does an independent arbiter of crash safety need to test every single variant of new car? Or will it suffice to test one vehicle in the range and determine the other vehicles in the range are equally safe?

This is the very question ANCAP (Australasian New Car Assessment Program) has faced for a number of years. Typically, there have been clear-cut cases of model variants that have scored a lower crash-safety rating than individual variants in the same range, due to some difference in specification.

As examples, the LPG version of the FG Falcon didn't initially rate five stars, due to lack of stability control and the one and only Commodore variant to incur five-star status prior to the MY10 update was the Omega -- the only car in the range with a front-passenger seatbelt reminder. In actual fact, these two cars (Falcon LPG and Commodore Omega) were judged to be safer or otherwise in a crash due to a peculiarity of ANCAP's testing method, rather than any inherent factor in their design.

Where vehicles are structurally the same or very similar -- and the safety specs are identical -- the crash test should yield the same results, whether the car is fitted with an automatic transmission or a manual, a four-cylinder engine or a V6. It's this view that has informed ANCAP's decision to migrate to a new way of applying safety ratings to model variants -- "subject to stringent conditions" as the testing body explained in its press release issued last week.

For ANCAP, the revised policy reduces the cost of crash-testing, since it's not necessary to test as many vehicles to yield the same or better coverage of the market. Consumers gain by improved probability that a vehicle under consideration for purchase may have been tested by ANCAP -- albeit possibly as a different variant.

"However, not all variants can have ratings applied under this policy," ANCAP Chair, Lauchlan McIntosh, was quoted as saying in the release.

"In these cases, ANCAP will conduct a crash test on the variant as part of the regular crash test program," he said. "This initiative -- coupled with additional five-year funding recently received from the Federal Government -- brings ANCAP closer to achieving its goal of having an ANCAP safety rating for all popular makes, models and variants of vehicles."

ANCAP has been running a trial program for the last 12 months, to ensure that filling in a number against a vehicle without being crash-tested can be viable and an accurate measure of that vehicle's passive safety. According to the press release, ANCAP will dispense with separate crash testing for a diesel car if the petrol variant has already been tested. Other examples of variation include 2WD versus 4WD (such as the recently released Mitsubishi ASX), a three-door hatch versus a five-door or a sedan versus a hatch. The testing body emphasises that the decision to apply an on-paper result to a variant without crash-testing it first will not happen without the manufacturer or importer of that variant supplying detailed technical information to support the safety rating applicable. This should ensure that the vehicle rating is correct for consumers' purposes and won't undermine ANCAP's reputation for accurate crash safety data.

The new data filling regime has been officially announced ahead of a new cooperative project between ANCAP and its counterparts in Japan, Korea, Europe, USA, China and Malaysia. NCAP representatives from each country will assemble in Tokyo next month to thrash out an agreement for the sharing of crash test data. ANCAP has already committed to overseeing the crash test of the Mitsubishi i-MiEV by its Japanese NCAP equivalent. Once the tiny EV has been tested and the results collated, data for the i-MiEV will be forwarded to ANCAP's partners around the world.
 

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