Baby used cars fare poorly in safety ratings

Latest research shows that while most new light cars score four or a maximum five stars in the Australian New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP), they are disadvantaged by their weight when crashing into bigger and heavier vehicles, RACQ safety spokesman Steve Spalding said yesterday.

He was commenting on the 20th annual Used Car Safety Ratings of 313 cars in 5.8 million crashes in Australia and New Zealand. It is compiled by the Monash University's Accident Research Centre with support from state auto clubs and transport departments.

"Drivers can be about 10 times more likely to die or be seriously injured in a crash driving a used car with a poor safety record compared with a top performer," Mr Spalding said. The survey found the safest vehicle for occupants and other road users was the BMW X5 SUV (2001-2008), while the most dangerous was the early 1980s Daihatsu HiJet which was 11.5 times worse than the X5.

NRMA vehicle safety expert Jack Haley said 29 vehicles scored their Safe Pick rating of which 19 were small, medium or large cars, most manufactured since 2001, demonstrating the advances in affordable safe vehicles. There were only 19 safe picks last year and none in the first survey. However, Mr Spalding pointed out that light cars were the worst performers in the survey, despite many having good ANCAP scores.

"Often light cars' scores don't correlate with how they perform in ANCAP," he said. "The Hyundai Getz is a good example. It's a four-star ANCAP performer, but gets one star in the real world. Also, the Yaris gets five stars, but we only give it three. "The problem is the ANCAP crash test doesn't take into account weight. The heavier car will always come off better in a crash.

"In the real world, crashes happen at different angles with different circumstances. ANCAP only does offset front and side impact tests." The research rated cars not only on the protection they provide the driver but also the level of risk they present to other road users in a collision. Those that scored highly on both counts were labelled Safe Picks.

Mr Spalding suggested buyers should not just look at ANCAP, but also the Used Car Safety Ratings. "While the top Safe Pick is a prestige vehicle, motorists can be assured there are Safe Picks in almost every class of vehicle covering a broad price range," he said. "Alarmingly, the research shows that while novice drivers have the highest crash risk they often drive the least safe vehicles.

"By choosing safer vehicles, novice drivers could reduce their road trauma statistics by 60 to 80 per cent." NSW Centre for Road Safety general manager Margaret Prendergast said newer models provide drivers with better protection from injury in a crash than older ones. "Motorists will see from the list that some of the most affordable used cars are the safest," she said.

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