Top car makers against crash test program

The country's four car makers have responded coolly to suggestions they supply cars free of charge for independent crash testing. Australian New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP) chairman, Lauchlan McIntosh, says it's a big ask but it would go a long way to establishing a better partnership between ANCAP and the local car companies.

However, Ford, Holden, Toyota and Mitsubishi have long held the opinion that they crash test their cars to stringent internal standards and all their vehicles pass Australian Design Rules, so there is no need to support ANCAP.

“We're up for $150,000 in total plus administrative costs that go with it,” he says.

“In Europe most of the manufacturers donate the cars to the EuroNCAP process. Half of their total costs are met by the manufacturers.”

Local carmakers refuse to endorse EuroNCAP or ANCAP testing but as safety increasingly becomes a factor in new car purchases, they are under pressure to show some acceptance of the procedure. However, they still refuse to share their own crash data with ANCAP and providing cars could be seen as a tacit endorsement.

Toyota spokesman Peter Griffin says giving cars to ANCAP is “not on our agenda” but says anything could happen in the longer term. He says the company would also have issues with releasing internal crash test data publicly because it could provide an advantage to rivals.

Holden spokesman John Lindsay says the ANCAP process lacks the detail of Holden's own internal testing. In developing the VE Commodore, Holden crash tested 80 cars, performed 5000 computer simulations and did 500 seatbelt restraint tests.

ANCAP performs just the three tests.

McIntosh says if the carmakers come on board the cars will still be selected randomly.

This would avoid any allegations of testing bias or the use of specially built vehicles designed just to pass the crash test process.

In EuroNCAP testing, the carmakers can request their car be tested and in such circumstances they pay for the testing.

However, they have no control over the publishing of the results.

Once the test is complete, the car companies are given the test results and invited to comment.

McIntosh says its independent crash testing is a win-win situation for the car companies as they get vital crash test information about their new products straight into the marketplace.

“They make plenty of cars available for people to test for road performance, why wouldn't they make one available for crash testing?” he says.