Holden ute in top used safety picks

A pre-loved workhorse joins the upper ranks in the protection stakes. It's getting harder to buy an unsafe car, even a used one. The latest Safe Picks survey includes, for the first time, a light-commercial -- the VE Commodore Ute.

Yet its VE sedan counterpart scores only four stars due to the late inclusion of standard side airbags in the entry-level models during the early stages of the VE's life cycle.

Ford's BA/BF Falcon and the VY/VZ Commodore scored similarly to the VE, but the FG Falcon scored the full five stars and a Safe Pick rating. Safe Picks, the work of road safety researchers and motoring organisations nationally, details more than 200 used vehicles between two and 17 years old.

The top performers are listed as Safe Picks, which means occupants and vulnerable road users such as pedestrians and cyclists are afforded the greatest protection.

The ratings are calculated by the Monash University Accident Research Centre (MUARC) using data from more than 5.5 million vehicles involved in police-reported crashes between 1996-2011.

RAA spokesman Mark Borlace says the medium car segment has the most Safe Pick choices -- 13 vehicles are rated excellent for driver protection in a crash.

Six of these also received the Safe Pick rating. Six small cars scored the Safe Pick rating, including the Adelaide-built Holden Cruze, as well as a growing number of light commercial vehicles.

Top used cars (Five stars and Safe Pick)

SMALL: Holden Cruze JG/JH 2009-11
MEDIUM: BMW 3 Series 2005-11
UTES: Holden Commodore Ute VE 2007-11
LARGE CARS: BMW 5 Series E39 1996-2003
COMPACT SUVs: Mitsubishi Outlander/Peugeot 4007 2006-11
MEDIUM SUVs: Holden Captiva CG 2006-11
LARGE SUVs: BMW X5 2001-08
PEOPLE-MOVERS: Honda Odyssey 2004-09