NCAP fires back at critics

The Global New Car Assessment Programme (Global NCAP) has taken a swipe at media outlets in Australia for dismissing ANCAP's new testing protocol.

In a press release issued by Global NCAP today, Secretary-General David Ward also promoted the NCAP method and the benefits it could bring to emerging markets where vehicle safety is largely unregulated.

"The life-saving role of New Car Assessment Programs is well established in all world regions and a key contributor to the current UN Decade of Action for Road Safety," Ward was quoted saying in the press release.

"Global NCAP is baffled by the recent negative comments made in the Australian media about ANCAP when, in fact, it has made a huge contribution to reducing road trauma at home in Australia and is also a strong partner with the other nine established NCAPs around the world."

"ANCAP is a leader in vehicle safety advocacy and has been immensely successful in improving the safety of the Australasian fleet over the past two decades. Thanks to ANCAP and its simplicity of message, Australian consumers now consider safety as the primary factor when buying a new car. ANCAP through its affiliation with Global NCAP has also assisted the development of new NCAPs in South East Asia and Latin America."

"Unfortunately today new cars are still being sold that are specified differently for different markets with key safety technologies sometimes missing. In unregulated emerging markets models are sold that would fail to meet even the minimum UN crash test standards. NCAP's are on the frontline of improved vehicle safety and without them the huge improvements in car safety seen over the last thirty years would not have happened."

"Their crucial role in driving up safety standards in the interests of consumers across the world is widely recognised."

As motoring.com.au has previously reported, ANCAP has announced as part of its road map that it is aligning its crash safety testing regime with Euro NCAP's. This has resulted in at least one car tested this year achieving an ANCAP rating that it would not have achieved last year, while the two testing systems are harmonising.

Integral to this harmonisation process is a two-path approach, differentiating between local and imported cars – and holding the imports to a higher level even in the two remaining years of local production. Acknowledging that the crash safety testing regime for 2015 is different from that applicable in 2014, and is no longer internally consistent from one model to another, ANCAP has now advised consumers and the media alike that a true estimation of a car's five-star status must be based around a 'date stamp' logo, informing the consumer of the year the car was tested – and making a more informed decision on that basis. As we noted at the time, it's likely to complicate rather than simplify matters for consumers.