12 July 2011
When it comes to fashion, every woman’s looking for something different – flares may work for one while her best friend should probably stick to skinny jeans.
When it comes to cars, most women are looking for the same thing – safety. But what do we mean when we say ‘safety’? And how do you measure it?
Like the way the fashion industry’s buzz words (“on-trend” and “capsule collection”, anyone?) are often lost on the average shopper, the problem with car-buying is figuring out how a woman’s concept of safety translates into terms used by the auto industry, and what standards these terms are held up against.
It’s important for women to know how to assess car manufacturers’ safety features because, as it turns out, women now buy 60% of all new cars and make the decision in 85% of all car purchases.
In Australia, one benchmark for vehicle safety involves assessing the outcomes of serious front and side crashes, done in lab conditions. Supported by local and federal governments, crash testing is one of the only measurements that can be objectively and unfailingly applied to anybody’s car purchase decision.
Since 1993, Australasian New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP) has published crash test results for over 300 vehicles. All vehicles are tested under identical conditions and dummies are used to measure the various forces on the occupants in a crash.
Figuring out which car is the safest is made a lot easier using ANCAP’s straightforward star-rating system.
It really is pretty simple. Just think movie ratings but out of 5. The more stars, the better and – in this case – safer. If a car scores a high rating, it means it has a sound structure and the best safety systems.
The cold, hard fact is that vehicle occupants have twice the chance of being killed or seriously injured in an ANCAP 1-star rated vehicle compared to an ANCAP 5-star rated vehicle.
So next time you’re on the hunt for your next car, all you have to do is log on to ancap.com.au and all the safest options will be right at your fingertips. You’ll also find a guide for understanding safety features.
"ANCAP's 5-star rated models are now available in every market segment. Buyers should do their homework and seek out 5-star vehicles to give themselves and their passengers the best chance of avoiding the trauma of a serious crash,” says chair of ANCAP Lauchlan McIntosh.
If you’re already thinking about a new car, you might want to keep in mind that in the latest round of tests, ANCAP gave 5-star ratings to the Hyundai Elantra, Nissan Leaf RHD 5-door hatch and Ford Focus LHD 5-door hatch.