Abstract
As a major Australian consumer organisation the Royal Automobile Club of Victoria (RACV) has a responsibility to inform its 1.5 million motorist members on the important issue of vehicle safety. The aim has been to encourage members to demand safety when purchasing new cars.
The RACV is involved in a number of prominent occupant protection projects including the Australasian New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP). ANCAP is funded and managed by motoring associations and road authorities from around Australia and New Zealand. The program has a budget of A$1.5 million per year.
ANCAP commenced in 1992 using the US NCAP full frontal 56 km/h barrier test. In 1994 an offset frontal crash test at 64 km/h into a fixed barrier with a deformable element was added. In 1999 ANCAP harmonised its testing protocols and evaluating procedures with Euro NCAP. This was so ANCAP could use European test results where the vehicle specifications were equivalent to the model sold in Australia. This reduces the number and cost of tests.
Each vehicle model tested by ANCAP is subjected to an offset crash test at 64 km/h into a barrier, side impact test at 50 km/h using a trolley, and a pedestrian impact test. The pedestrian test estimates injuries to pedestrians struck by a vehicle travelling at 40 km/h.
The program provides consumers with information on the relative occupant protection performance of popular vehicles and enables the safety of the local vehicle fleet to be compared with other international fleets.
The program has now tested and published the frontal and side crash occupant protection levels for the post popular passenger cars available on the Australian market. It has also achieved a high level of consumer awareness from the extensive media coverage of launches of results.
While manufacturers have recently improved the frontal and side crash test performance of vehicles significantly, further gains are possible. The program will continue to encourage the introduction of world best practice in vehicle occupant protection levels for Australian consumers.
This paper will discuss the background to ANCAP, current testing and outcomes, as well as future directions.