Since 1995 the Australasian New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP) has conducted a 64km/h offset crash test. In 1999 the test and rating protocols were aligned with Euro NCAP. This produces a rating out of 5 stars for front occupant (driver and front passenger) protection. In a separate program the crashworthiness of used cars in real-world crashes has been analysed under the Used Car Safety Rating (UCSR) scheme.

The ANCAP and UCSR ratings of more than 30 models on the Australian market can be tracked for more than a decade. This paper sets out the results of an analysis of these data and observations about the safety improvements to these models.

In general an improvement of one ANCAP star rating for a model is associated with a 20 to 25% reduction in risk of serious injury to the driver. It is likely that improvements from 3 stars or less to 4 stars are mostly associated with improved structure and restraints in frontal crashes. Improvements from 4 to 5 stars are mostly likely associated with improved head protection in side crashes.

It is only in the last few years that most popular models in Australia have reached a 5 star rating. Many of these vehicles are not yet covered by Used Car Safety Ratings because of the inherent delay in obtaining real-world crash data. It is therefore planned to repeat this analysis in 2014.