Crash safety ratings will confuse

Safety-conscious car buyers are about to face a confusing choice between cars sitting in showrooms with conflicting safety scores.

Australia's independent safety agency, ANCAP, will soon withhold its top five-star ranking from any car without rear airbags in a move that's already triggered a head-on collision with Renault.

The French maker believes rear airbags are no longer essential for five-star protection and has the proof in a five-star score from Euro NCAP for its baby Clio. The Clio was even rated as the safest car in its class by the European New-Car Assessment Program and Renault is expecting another five-star tick for its upcoming compact SUV, the Captur.

It says it intends to continue to promote its success in Euro NCAP, even if that triggers a conflict with lower local scores from ANCAP that include a mark-down for missing rear airbags.

"The customer is going to be confused. Europe uses a more stringent test . . . and we think it's more relevant to the real world," the managing director of Renault Australia, Justin Hocevar, tells Carsguide.

"Regardless of whatever rating ANCAP gives us, we have five-star cars. That's our message. We promote it. The question we've put to ANCAP is 'Why? Where is the data?', please let us understand the strategy."

Renault was one of the first carmakers to endorse NCAP-style testing in Australia and, together with Subaru, has pushed strongly with its five-star cars from the outset.

But Hocevar says he is not happy with ANCAP attacks on Renault over the rear-airbag issue and is happy to highlight what he sees as a double standard involving Holden, which fits knee protection for its American exports of the VF Commodore but not in the cars sold in Australia.

"We have the highest safety standard. And that's a conscious decision we've made," Hocevar says. "That's why we are frustrated when it's ok for an Australian manufacturer to export with different safety standards for other markets."

"I think some of the comments from ANCAP are unjustified, harsh, and not driven by any real-world data. I think it's a double standard."

Turning directly to the rear-airbag question, Hocevar says Renault's technology has now advanced beyond just using airbags to the design and strength of a car's basic structure. "You could load a car with a bunch of airbags . . . and ANCAP is saying that's better car to buy than one with a rigorous safety agenda? People are not just looking for a car that's the sum of its airbags. What we're doing is making cars to the most stringent safety standards."

"Euro NCAP has been acceptable for Australia previously, so we're not taking a stand against them. We're standing up for our strong safety credentials. We are not creating vehicles specifically for Australia. It's just that ANCAP has decided to go down a new road."