Safety Ratings by Car Type

Safety ratings are based on crash results. Information on this website is based on two separate rating systems - the Australasian New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP) ratings and the Used Car Safety Ratings (UCSR).

The used car crash research and new car assessment program serve as a guide to the crash protection offered by different cars. This tells you how well your car will protect you in a crash and lets you compare research and review car safety ratings and features for your next new or used car purchase.

ANCAP tests are undertaken in a laboratory under specific conditions and provide an indication of how the car will perform in the event of a crash, while the UCSR are based on the analysis of real world car crashes and reflect the car's actual safety performance.

While the ANCAP and UCSR systems are not comparable, whichever rating you use, the more stars the better!

Occupant Protection

Myth: The occupants of a large heavy car are better off in a crash with a smaller lighter car.

This is not always the case. Size is a factor in how well a car protects its driver and passengers from serious injury or death in a crash, but there can be significant differences in the crash protection between cars of similar size and weight.

In single car crashes, like a crash with a tree or a rollover crash, car size generally makes little difference to occupant safety. Safety features and crash protection are just as important for large four wheel drives as they are for small cars.

Pedestrian Protection

In a crash, car size can influence injury risk for other car occupants or road users, like pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists.

Results from Folksam’s research (Sweden) into two car crashes in Sweden between 1994 and 2000, indicated that four wheel drives were around 60% more dangerous for others than average cars, while the corresponding figure for MPVs (people movers) was 30%