ANCAP rips in on US pick-up truck safety

The increasing presence of large US-sourced pick-up trucks on Australian roads is hard to miss with four brands currently offering these oversized utes tailored to the needs of big families or commercial operators needing plenty of space and muscular towing power.

And now, the Australasian New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP) has investigated their crash-avoidance ADAS (Advanced Driver Assistance Systems) tech in line with what it believes is the “bigger threat” they pose to other road users relative to conventional passenger cars.

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ANCAP already applies a five-tier rating system to commercial vans focusing on ADAS performance (without looking at crash-worthiness) and has extended its analysis to the Chevrolet Silverado 1500, Ford F-150, Ram 1500 and Toyota Tundra as well as the Toyota LandCruiser 79 Series cab chassis model.

In announcing the results of its inaugural ‘Large Utilities ADAS Safety Comparison’ ANCAP CEO Carla Hoorweg said, “Larger vehicles pose a bigger threat to other road users than passenger cars. 

“The best way to reduce the potential risk of fatalities and serious injuries from large vehicles is to make sure they do the best possible job at avoiding a crash,” she said.

Ms Hoorweg added, “There is community concern over the size of pickups when they are driving in suburban streets, around schools, and in built-up areas.

“We have applied international best practice in safety testing to this segment to make sure there is an incentive for manufacturers to improve crash avoidance technology.”

In terms of results the five tiers applied to each vehicle were Platinum (80-100 percent), Gold (60-79 per cent), Silver (40-59 per cent), Bronze (20-39 per cent) and Not Recommended (0-19 per cent).

And it was a case of ‘one of each’ with the Ford F-150 achieving a Platinum grade thanks to “one of the most comprehensive ranges of active safety features among the large utilities assessed”.

The Ram 1500 scored Gold thanks to a “broad range of well-performing features", the Toyota Tundra (and LandCruiser 79 Series) was awarded Silver in light of its “reasonable level of performance” while the Chevrolet Silverado 1500 scored a Bronze ranking with “a narrower range of crash avoidance performance”.

ANCAP said it is using this initial comparison “to inform the development of a framework and roadmap for future testing and assessment”.

Additional safety information is expected to be available for a broader range of large pick-up models/variants from 2026 with crash protection testing a potential addition.