Five-stars or bust? Could a more holistic view of ANCAP ratings deliver a bigger bang for your safety bucks? | Opinion

The Dacia Duster is a sharply-priced, mid-size, five-seat SUV sold by Renault’s Romanian subsidiary in multiple markets across Europe. 

It offers bi-fuel as well as mild- and full-hybrid three- and four-cylinder powertrains in two- and four-wheel-drive configuration. More than two million of them have been sold over 25 years. 

Just last year, the recently released third-generation version won more than 20 major awards in Europe. Auto Bild’s ‘Allrad Award’ in Germany, Auto Plus’s ‘Readers’ Choice SUV’ in France and it was a 2025 European ‘Car of the Year’ finalist.

Renault Australia has recently confirmed the Duster is coming here, badged as a Renault (as it already is in selected export markets), in the second half of this year. 

But, here’s the thing. It’s a three- out of five-star Euro NCAP car. So, with every chance (depending on spec) local independent safety assessment body ANCAP adopts its sister organisation’s assessment (as it often does), in the eyes of Aussie new-car buyers I’d argue it’s starting life here from behind the eight ball.

As evidenced by the Dacia, a three-star car can clearly be a highly regarded and popular choice in other parts of the world. Jeep’s mid-size Avenger EV SUV was named European ‘Car of the Year’ in 2023, and you guessed it, it’s a three-star Euro NCAP car.

Yet it feels like Australian consumers have been convinced anything less than a maximum five-star ANCAP performance is grounds for shopping list elimination.

To investigate this theory further we spoke to a range of retail sales people, the majority working at the new-car coalface across various brands for long periods of time.

And their response was consistent. Safety is a priority for many buyers, ANCAP awareness is high, there’s a widely held attitude that five stars is good and anything less is grounds for serious concern, however there’s precious little knowledge as to how the star ratings are determined.

And those selling four-star (and lower) rated models were particularly vocal. One telling us, “Is safety an important factor for customers? Absolutely, yes”.

“The four-star factor is definitely questioned, but the lack of understanding behind the levels is frustrating. Particularly when government fleet sales mandate a five-star rating,” he said.

And the increasing weight applied to the presence and performance of active safety systems in ANCAP assessment seems to be adding complexity to the conversation.

“People want to know if you’ll be protected in a crash, but an increasing number are seeing assistance systems as out of control. They don’t like all that beeping,” he said. 

Fun fact: One of CarsGuide’s Deep Throats in Europe confirms a growing black market in coding selected ADAS functions out so you don’t need to cycle them off each time a car restarts. 

We put the five-star or bust theory to ANCAP CEO Carla Hoorweg and her view is clear. 

“We’re obviously encouraging consumers to purchase the safest vehicles, and we’re providing that information to them, but at the end of the day they can choose. We don’t dictate what consumers buy. 

“We’re encouraging all manufacturers to do as well as they possibly can. The concern that I have with some of these lines of arguments is that it’s really about the commercial side for the manufacturer.

“What we want to encourage those manufacturers to do, is to consider what consumers actually want and what the majority of consumers purchase, which is a car that’s got the highest safety standards.

“Where manufacturers are often trying to push and say you should, you know, accept a lower standard, it’s where they’re taking product from another market that isn’t meeting that standard and trying to bring it in and sort of say, oh well, this should be okay. It’s very clear what you need to do to achieve five stars,” she said.

Which raises the question of cost. Remember when the fourth-generation Toyota Yaris arrived here back in 2020? Cost of entry for the five-door city hatch shot up by around 40 per cent ($7000).

Toyota Australia product planning had done exactly what Carla Hoorweg believes car manufacturers should. Aside from other additional (non-safety related) spec, everything from the brand’s full pre-collision safety system (including AEB with pedestrian and cyclist detection), active cruise control, intersection turn assistance, lane trace assist (with active steering), road-sign recognition and a reversing camera had been loaded in.

The result was five ANCAP stars and a marked reduction in volume, which you could argue might have happened anyway if Toyota hadn’t bitten the bullet and upped the car’s safety game. But the Yaris was no longer an entry-level, first new-car buyer option.

Interesting to note a new ANCAP comms campaign launched earlier this year. It’s built around a ‘Choose Safety’ positioning and highlights five-star results. Among other elements, advertising spots of various lengths resolve on a phone screen displaying a maximum rating.

When asked if she considered a four-star car to be worthy of consideration by Australian new-car consumers, Ms Hoorweg wouldn’t be drawn.

“Five stars is absolutely the gold standard, and it’s a decision for consumers if they want to purchase that, or if they want to trade off safety features,” she said.

And maybe, I’m off-target. The Suzuki Jimny was, until the beginning of the year, a three-star ANCAP car and is now unrated. Yet, close to 10,000 of them found homes here in 2024, with the model on track for a similar result in 2025. 

The Cupra Tavascan is a four-star ANCAP performer, as is the Hyundai Kona, Hyundai Venue and Kia Cerato. Suzuki’s Swift is a one and the Mahindra Scorpio is a zero.

For the record, ANCAP says a zero star car “Provides a poor level of structural and/or active safety performance. May lack basic safety features” and the Mahindra was assessed at zero per cent for Safety Assist.

Clearly, buyers of these models have no qualms about weighing up what ANCAP says is less than stellar safety and sign on the dotted line, anyway. 

Across Euro NCAP’s (and ANCAP’s) four key pillars of safety performance the Dacia Duster’s results varied. In terms of crash testing, Adult Occupant protection cracked the four-star level, Child Occupant protection vaulted over the five-star threshold and Vulnerable Road Users was a four-star performance. So, far from tragic in terms of physical crash performance.

But when it came to Safety Assist tech the Duster recorded a three-star ranking. Its AEB system was deemed "adequate” only, the lack of a rear seat occupant detection system was marked down and points came off because its speed assistance systems are not switched on by default. So, three stars overall it is.

In releasing the results Euro NCAP said in part, “Dacia’s ‘no-frills’ sales strategy is well-known, the brand having previously shunned active safety technology in favour of affordability”, adding “[The Duster’s] occupant protection shows limited ambition.”

Ms Hoorweg reiterates ANCAP’s admirable “mission and vision (of) zero road fatalities and serious injuries on Australian and New Zealand roads”.

She makes the point that over the past two and half years, 81 per cent of the vehicles ANCAP has rated have come out at five stars (51 out of the 63 models).

She says the body’s assessments deliver “detailed factual scores based on the safety performance and the technologies included in the cars”.

And adds, “It’s weighted so that consumers can make a simple purchasing decision by looking at the star rating. 

“They don’t have to understand all the technical details that go into it. And they can easily see that if they want the safest car, it’s going to be a five-star car,” she said.

But why have five levels if few buyers investigate the detailed data available? Is there an opportunity for the safety equation to be less binary and more nuanced?

Could buyers be encouraged to see beyond the stars and investigate the background info and adopt a broader perspective, especially when it comes to less expensive models? 

And what about tone? Maybe it’s possible to see why factors other than a budget-focused positioning make the Dacia Duster so well accepted in Europe. 

Look at the difference between three- and four-star rating summaries between Euro NCAP and ANCAP (derived from the same assessment regime).

	Euro NCAP	ANCAP
Three stars	A vehicle that provides an average level of safety performance, offering a medium standard in safety.	Provides a reduced level of safety performance. Structural failures or severe cabin intrusion may occur in a crash. Higher likely risk of injury to occupants and/or other road users. May offer limited collision avoidance capability.
Four stars	Overall good performance in crash protection and all round; additional crash avoidance technology may be present.	Provides an adequate level of safety performance yet fell short in one or more key assessment areas. May present a higher injury risk to occupants and/or other road users in certain scenarios or have a reduced ability to avoid a crash.

What do you think? Could the Renault Duster be a RAV4 buster? Would a more holistic view benefit new-car buyers in the long run, or am I barking (mad) up the wrong tree? Let us know in the comments.