New ANCAP Test Label Makes Comparisons Easier for Consumers

The Australasian New Car Assessment Program is making it easier for consumers to identify the safety levels against which each car has been tested by adding a date stamp to its ANCAP-rating logos.

Requirements for each star rating are increasing year by year and the new date stamp – such as “Tested 2014” – tells consumers the rating year a vehicle has been tested.

The year featured within the date stamp signifies the rating year and consumers will be able to go to the ANCAP website and look up the safety level for any vehicle.

“Consumers now are well aware of ANCAP and its 1- to 5-star safety rating system and are interested to know how a 5-star rating of earlier years compares with a 5-star rating of today,” ANCAP Chairman Lauchlan McIntosh says in a statement.

“As the ANCAP test program moves in line with the rapid progression of vehicle safety design and technologies, the introduction of date stamping to ANCAP ratings is the next step in clearly communicating the differences in a car rated today compared with a car rated in forthcoming years.”

The ANCAP logos with date stamps have been issued for all new ratings published since July and will be rolled out across ANCAP and manufacturer advertising materials and other relevant new-car information sources over the coming months.

There is a soft introduction this year as ANCAP member organizations and other groups are provided with the new logos and ANCAP says the date-stamped logos are to be used in all  relevant material from next Jan. 1.

The rating logos are used across a wide range of manufacturer marketing, advertising, dealership material, new car advertisements, signage and digital content as well as by motoring and mainstream media, fleets and employers, automotive reviewers, transport agencies and authorities and other consumer information organizations.

ANCAP recommends consumers buy nothing less than 5-star rated vehicles. It is supported by the Australian and New Zealand governments, all Australian and New Zealand motoring clubs, Australian state and territory governments and the Victorian Transport Accident Commission.