Car Rating Lifecycle

Information on this website is based on two separate safety ratings - the Australasian New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP) ratings and the Used Car Safety Ratings (UCSR).

ANCAP crash tests new vehicles in a laboratory under specific conditions. In contrast, UCSR are based on the analysis of real world car crashes and more reliably reflect the car's actual safety performance. In some instances both a UCSR and ANCAP rating will be available for some car models. Occasionally the ratings from these two different assessments can differ for particular cars. Since the UCSR reflects the relative safety performance of a car in a wider range of crash scenarios and involving a wider range of occupant types than reflected in the ANCAP tests, the UCSR should be the preferred source of information on relative car safety. 

The used car crash research and new car assessment program serve as a guide to the crash protection offered by different cars. They tell you how well your car will protect you in a crash and let you compare research and review car safety ratings for your next new or used car purchase.

While the ANCAP and UCSR systems are not comparable, whichever rating you use, the more stars the better!

To better explain the differences in rating systems, below is the safety rating pathway that cars move through in their lifecycle:

*ANCAP also rates cars based on crash test data from EuroNCAP tested vehicles that are relevant to Australasia. EuroNCAP chooses the best selling cars in Europe to be tested.