Family Advice

Cars are rated from 1 to 5 in terms of safety, with a 5-star rating the best.The stars are awarded under the Australasian New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP).ANCAP crash tests cars in specially built facilities in scenarios that are designed to simulate real world situations.The stars indicate the level of safety for occupants and pedestrians in a crash, as well as an indication of a car's ability to avoid a crash altogether through technology fitted.The ANCAP crash test program was established in 1992 with the first test results published in 1993.Vehicles must achieve minimum scores across all physical crash tests for each ANCAP safety rating levelEuro NCAP was established in 1997 and ANCAP began testing and assessing vehicles in accordance with the Euro NCAP protocols in 1999. At this time the star rating system was also introduced.Crash tests dummies costing up to a million dollars each are used to measure the forces and likely injuries a driver, passenger or pedestrian may sustain.Vehicles must achieve minimum scores across all physical crash tests for each ANCAP safety rating level, as well as meet minimum requirements for the inclusion of safety equipment and technologies.In 2008 the inclusion of electronic stability control (ESC) became mandatory before a vehicle could achieve the maximum five stars.Cars built before this date may well have a five-star rating, but may not necessarily be fitted with ESC — so it pays to check.Ratings are on record, in a searchable, online databaseANCAP crash tests new passenger and light commercial vehicles entering the Australian and New Zealand markets at its facility at Huntingwood, NSW, but also accepts crash data from related organisations like Euro NCAP to formulate ratings.ANCAP sources cars itself to avoid any possibility of vehicles being specially prepared.Ratings are on record, in a searchable, online database that stretches back to the first car to receive a five star rating in Australia, the Renault Laguna in 2001.

What are advanced safety features and how can they help protect your family?

I first appreciated AWD, or noticed the lack of it, when driving in my old car on a very steep hill with my children in the backseat. And my car started to slide backwards.

What do you look for in a car when buying one for the family? It's not like before children (shall we call that BC?) when all you wanted was two seats and a roof that goes down.No, these days, your desires are much more practical. Well, your priorities are anyway. Here's the checklist while you're car shopping to make sure all your prerequisites are ticked off before you buy. For you in the front just as much as the kids need it in the back. Look out for leg space both in the driver and the passenger seat, and check the leg space on the passenger side while there is a baby capsule in the back seat (if that is the family stage you're up to). Rear facing capsules are big, and you'd be surprised how much the front passenger will have to compromise on leg space, so if there's not enough room and you're tall, you're in trouble.Space in the rear is important if you've got growing teenagers with long legs that need to sit behind you, too. "I think the boot is too big," said no parent ever. You won't know the joy of a big boot until you regularly drive a car with one, and then have it taken away from you. Fitting things easily into the boot and not feeling like it's a giant jigsaw puzzle every time is joyful. So you can fit prams, groceries, school bags, bikes, sporting equipment, picnic baskets, blankets, towels, beach bags, boogie boards... need I go on?Because it's 2019 and we all deserve to live like it is. Good technology today means Apple CarPlay or Android Auto which essentially sync your phone with the multimedia screen instantly connect your phone's main apps to the touchscreen just by plugging it into the USB point. It's not hard, you don't have to learn it, and you can easily navigate via the maps app or stream music via Spotify. You can also make calls and send texts by using voice control in some cars like the Subaru Outback pictured here. To me, good storage maketh a good car drive, especially when you treat your car like your living room, which is often the case. So you want a spot for your coffee/tea - cupholders are essential, you want a bottle holder in the door for hydration, and you want a spot to throw keys and a phone because they get lost easily otherwise. The centre storage bin can be useful to pop toys for the kids or iPads when they're not in use. The children also appreciate cupholders in the back.So this isn't an essential, sure, but it improves your drive dramatically. A leather-trimmed steering wheel especially feels really lovely under the hands and even if the rest of the car's interior is not up to scratch, if you're touching a leather steering wheel it won't matter.Dual-zone air conditioning is good, but even better is a functional design and easy access to the climate control that doesn't involve jumping through 10 different screens on the multimedia. There is something to be said for knobs and buttons that are within arms reach and just work when you move them, like on the Subaru Outback pictured here.Because kids get hot and if there's one thing I've learned since driving different cars on a weekly basis, it's that my children will notice when there are no air vents in the back, especially in summer.These are a must to fit children's car seats in safely, and most new cars will have both so you have the choice between an ISOFIX seat or just the top tether seats. Some cars top tether points can be on the roof, so just note where they are and if in a weird spot, see how that affects head space. I've been in cars where the kids' car seats involuntarily rolled inward, because they were at too much of an angle, so it's always good to check these things and also check the comfort level of the front seats because once you have kids, you tend to go on long, arduous road trips and you start to notice when the seats are not up to standard. You can really tell the difference when you get into a car like the Subaru Outback and everything is super comfy.  

Child-seat laws seem like one of those inarguable givens, like regulations forbidding you to murder your mother-in-law or to keep a killer whale as a pet.

It takes less than 30 seconds to see what all the fuss is about with ISOFIX child seats, and why some people have been campaigning for years for them to be made legal in Australia.The first thing you notice is how easy the seat is to fit, with its metal rails poking out the base and slotting simply into the ISOFIX connecting points that have previously sat fallow in many cars in this country.Holden even bravely launched the VF Commodore in 2013 with ISOFIX points, despite the fact it was still illegal to buy a seat until late last year.After years of struggling with the seatbelt-retaining system of traditional seats, which can be about as challenging as tieing your shoe laces with your eyes closed and cheese graters on your hands, the ISOFIX system is a revelation.You immediately appreciate just how incredibly rigid the ISOFIX seat system feelsThat simplicity also means that, as the new seats are snapped up by Australian families, the appalling number of child restraints that are incorrectly fitted - estimated to be more than 80 per cent at present - will fall sharply.The other thing you immediately appreciate is just how incredibly rigid the ISOFIX seat system feels by comparison, with virtually no lateral movement compared to the older seatbelt-fitted design.Mike Lumley, the Technical Director for Britax Safe and Sound, which finally started selling ISOFIX seats here last October, says the system is simply "far superior".You quite literally feel like a better parent just using one"In terms of lateral movement in a side impact, and also forward movement, you simply can't make a seatbelt hold the same way as a rigid connection," he explains."There's also no doubt that the ISOFIX is a more intuitive system, when it comes to fitting one in your vehicle."Here at CarsGuide.com.au we've been road testing a Britax Trufix (RRP $499) for two months now, and every time we install it in a new car we're struck again by how much more solid, and thus much safer, it feels.Standards Australia has been working on introducing a local standard for ISOFIX since 2002You quite literally feel like a better parent just using one, which makes us wonder why we put up with the old system for so long.Mr Lumley explains that it was all about a difference of opinion between Australia (and our friends, Canada) and the rest of the world over whether a system anchored rigidly to the car should still have a top tether attachment as well."Standards Australia has been working on introducing a local standard for ISOFIX since 2002 and ultimately the decision was made by the Department of Transport that there should be further testing, which delayed the introduction here...for quite a while," he says."There was testing done that showed the two point rigid connection at the base plus the top tether was the best performance, but the Europeans decided it was too difficult and went without the top strap."After what seems an inexcusably slow bureaucratic process, a ruling saying we should be allowed to use ISOFIX was published in 2013, but it still took until September 2014 for that to be made official.The result is that, unlike Europe, our ISOFIX seats must have a top tether fitted as well, which reduces the possibility of rotation and provides, according to Mr Lumley, the best of both worlds.Almost 80 per cent of sales are now ISOFIX"It's logical, you have something retaining the bottom of the seat, so you should have something restraining the top as well, and Australia has been saying that for a long time," he says.The market reaction, particularly from people who've been waiting for years for ISOFIX to be available, has been swift, according to Britax's marketing manager, Narenna Bloomfield."We relaunched our Platinum SICT with ISOFIX ($659) and without ($629) in October...almost 80 per cent of sales are now ISOFIX, demonstrating that families are keen to adopt the new installation method," Ms Bloomfield says."Anecdotal feedback has also been that even if consumers do not have ISOFIX they may plan to purchase a vehicle equipped with ISOFIX in the future, and therefore are more willing to buy an ISOFIX car seat now."There's no question that most people in the market for a new seat who compare the two fitting methods directly will plump for the ISOFIX, but the law won't require them to.The availability of ISOFIX chid seats is a huge, and much welcome, step forwardUnder the ADRs it is still legal to sell cars here without the ISOFIX fitting points in the back seats, and the seatbelt-restrained versions are also likely to remain on the market for the forseeable future."Although there have been European vehicles sold here with ISOFIX lower anchorages for many years, it could take 10 or 20 years for most of those vehicles that didn't have the anchorages to move out of the Australian fleet," Mr Lumley explains.It may have been a long time coming, but for the safety of our youngest car occupants, the availability of ISOFIX chid seats is a huge, and much welcome, step forward.

It wasn't that long ago that having a CD stacker in your car was considered high-tech. Enter Apple CarPlay and Android Auto.

We Are Kindred's Lizzie Renkert shows us around the Lower North Shore in a Tesla Model X.Magazine editor turned fashion designer, Lizzie Renkert, owns the beautifully feminine label, We Are Kindred with her sister Georgie. She lives on the Lower North Shore, and we asked her to show us the favourite places in her hood so if you're ever visiting the north side of Sydney, you'll know exactly where to go.We were in a Tesla Model X - an electric SUV that doesn't run on petrol and looks more like a luxury spaceship than a car. It suited the suburbs perfectly. Here are her top spots for those days when you want to venture just over the bridge.Tell us where you want us to visit next!

There is one super-human skill that nearly everyone seems to think they are blessed with - the ability to drive a big, fast, heavy motor vehicle along a road at speed without even looking.

Here's the situation. Somehow, you've locked the kids in the car. What do you do?