When you decide to purchase a new vehicle, there are a number of considerations to take into account. This includes making sure you have appropriate comprehensive insurance and that you have undertaken a ctp greenslip comparison. Have you thought about safety ratings?
A vehicle is an investment in you and your family’s safety so you should be going out of your way to analyse and compare safety features. If you are looking into buying a new vehicle today, you extremely fortunate that technology advances with every new model.
To take some of the guess work out of purchasing a safe new car, you can investigate findings of the Australasian New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP). For over 20 years, the crash test authority has tested over 400 new vehicles to see how they shape up in a head-on accident.
ANCAP awards vehicles a star rating based on their performance with many cars achieving the maximum five stars. The authority has recently announced its latest round of safety ratings with three models receiving the coveted accolade.
Lexus CT200h
Since first being tested in 2011, the Lexus CT200h has gained five stars – with the latest model not letting the manufacturer down. ANCAP noted that the models built from December last year onwards feature a number of safety features of interest.
This includes reversing collision avoidance and emergency stop signal. The CT200H’s smart key is a real innovation as it can be programmed to restrict some operations within the vehicle such as maximum speed.
Volkswagen Polo
Much like the Lexus, previous models of the Polo have performed particularly well during ANCAP’s crash tests.
In vehicles fresh onto the market this month (August), there is a selection of additional safety assist technologies such as emergency stop signal and secondary brake collision assist as standard on each model.
Lexus IS range (models built from April 2013)
Another Lexus also joined the five star safety rating club this month, with the IS range featuring a number of innovative features that will attract many motorists.
During ANCAP’s testing, specific categories are analysed in the event of different crashes. The Lexus IS achieved top marks in whiplash protection as well as the pedestrian protection category.
The latter was gained through the model’s active bonnet technology. If you are involved in a an accident with a pedestrian and they hit your bonnet, then the bonnet lifts up to increase the clearance between the surface and the engine. This aims to protect the head and upper body of the pedestrian and is a piece of technology that should be widespread in the coming years.
ANCAP frustration
For all of ANCAP’s efforts and investigations, the authority believes manufacturers could do more to ensure motorist safety. ANCAP points out that a number of additional safety features such as autonomous emergency braking and adaptive cruise control are only available on more expensive versions of these models.
However, it is important to note that all models do meet the five star safety rating criteria.
ANCAP Chairman, Lauchlan McIntosh, explained this was becoming a widespread issue with many manufacturers.
“Each of these models offer a respectable range of safety assist technologies however, as with a number of other vehicles we’ve tested recently, we are continuing to see the majority of these important technologies either being withheld from base variants or not available at all,” he said.
Mr McIntosh added these additional technologies could be key to reducing the number of fatalities on state roads.
“Safety should not be seen as luxury or added extra,” he concluded.
According to Transport for NSW, so far in 2014, 204 people have lost their lives on state roads. This is 3 per cent more than the same time last year.
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