What do the star ratings mean?
Safety ratings explained
ANCAP safety ratings are determined based on a series of internationally recognised, independent crash tests and safety assessments shared by ANCAP and our European counterpart, Euro NCAP. Each star rating is determined following a series of destructive physical crash tests, an assessment of on-board safety features and equipment, and performance tests of active collision avoidance technologies.
Vehicles are evaluated against four key assessment areas, or Stages of Safety:
KEY ASSESSMENT AREAS
Safe Driving
Considers the vehicle technologies and features that assist in providing a safer driving experience for the driver and vehicle occupants.
Crash Avoidance
Assesses the crash avoidance technologies that help prevent or mitigate critical incidents through warnings or autonomous intervention.
Crash Protection
Evaluates the performance of traditional crash protection systems, including vehicle structure, seatbelts, airbags and head restraints to mitigate injuries to vehicle occupants, pedestrians and cyclists.
Post Crash
Addresses the 'golden hour' of emergency response through post-crash rescue information and assistance systems.
A range of tests and assessments are conducted within each assessment stage. A vehicle must meet minimum score requirements in each of these stages. Importantly, the overall star rating of a vehicle is limited by its lowest performing assessment stage — to encourage vehicle manufacturers to offer balanced safety performance across all areas.
To achieve the maximum five-star ANCAP safety rating, a vehicle must perform to the highest level across all key areas of assessment.
Safe Driving
Maximum Score
Crash Avoidance
Maximum Score
Crash Protection
Maximum Score
Post Crash
Maximum Score
Hazard Light Activation
The simplest way to see how your vehicle stacks up when it comes to safety is to check how many stars it has earned. Today, the majority of new vehicles sold achieve a five-star rating – an excellent achievement by vehicle manufacturers to ensure they provide their customers with the safest vehicles possible.
Every three years, the tests and test criteria we use to rate vehicles become harder to meet so that all road users can benefit from safety improvements. Checking the “TESTED” datestamp that sits alongside the star rating ensures you are comparing vehicles rated to similar test criteria. ANCAP recommends that you choose a vehicle with the highest safety rating possible, with a datestamp of no older than six years.
Provides a high and balanced level of safety performance across all assessment areas. Equipped with a range of passive safety features and active safety systems to protect or minimise injury to occupants and other road users
Provides an adequate level of safety performance yet fell short in one or more key assessment areas. May present a higher injury risk to occupants and/or other road users in certain scenarios or have a reduced ability to avoid a crash.
Provides a reduced level of safety performance. Structural failures or severe cabin intrusion may occur in a crash. Higher likely risk of injury to occupants and/or other road users. May offer limited collision avoidance capability.
Provides limited safety performance. Likely to be lacking a number of, or show inadequate performance of its, modern collision avoidance technologies. May pose a risk of serious head and body injuries to occupants in a crash.
Provides a low level of safety performance. May offer lower protection in the event of a crash and/or may lack the ability to avoid a crash through omission or basic performance of active safety systems.
Provides a poor level of structural and/or active safety performance. May lack basic safety features.
For those looking for additional detail beyond the star rating, performance scores for each of the four key assessment stages are published as a percentage.
Safe Driving
Crash Avoidance
Crash Protection
Post Crash
What’s the safest car for me?
Rating Validity
The ANCAP safety rating held by your car never expires. Once we test and rate a vehicle, the safety rating it has received remains valid for the life of that vehicle. However, we apply rating validity periods (or expiries) to manage how long a vehicle manufacturer can use that rating to promote newly-built vehicles. Our rating validity periods generally align with typical model lifecycles. Most vehicle models are replaced by all-new versions within this timeframe. Where a model continues in production beyond its rating validity period, we encourage manufacturers to upgrade the vehicle’s safety features and technologies so that it continues to offer the highest levels of protection for new car buyers.
Unrated Vehicles
Not all vehicle models have been tested, so if you come across a vehicle that is unrated, it means its safety performance has not been assessed and is unknown. The safety performance of a vehicle cannot be assumed or inferred based on the safety performance of other similar vehicles that are rated or previous generations of the same model.
If you can’t find an ANCAP safety rating for your car and would like to check, contact us.
Vehicles have evolved, and so has ANCAP
As vehicles become safer and more advanced, ANCAP’s testing does too. The criteria we use to rate vehicles have increased incrementally over the past three decades, and today, these criteria are updated every three years.
To learn more about the evolution of ANCAP and how vehicle safety is changing...
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