Safety ratings

Safety in new cars

The most authoritative guide to safety features in new cars is the Australasian New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP). Created through a partnership with the state driving clubs, the Australian Government and the TAC, ANCAP do crash testing for consumers and rate cars accordingly.

ANCAP’s 'Stars on Cars' program is a 1-5 star comparative rating. Five stars are awarded to the cars that offer the best protection.

• ANCAP safety ratings for consumers

Safety in second-hand cars

Most automobile clubs (NRMA, RACV, RACQ, RAASA, RACWA, RACT and AANT) provide safety assessments of new cars. Safety in used cars is harder to evaluate, so these ratings are likely to be less reliable than the ANCAP system, but they’ll give you a good guide.

The Australian Government also provides a regularly updated rating of safety in used cars.

• Used Car Safety Ratings: 2009 Update (Australian Government)

To help give consumers easy access to safety ratings, the TAC runs the howsafeisyourcar.com.au website, which allows people to quickly search for safety information on specific models.