Cars are becoming safer than ever and companies are continuing to push the pace, with an ever more regular release of new safety features, autonomous and not. Last year alone, 30 vehicles were given the highest ever safety rating in the New Zealand market, one of the toughest safety regulation regions in the world. One even received a record breaking score, to become the safest car ever tested.
With companies like Volvo announcing that by 2020 no one will ever again be injured or killed in or around one of its vehicles, the gauntlet has been thrown down and accepted by many other car makers. AA Motoring’s general manager, Stella Stocks, said recently that companies around the world have really stepped up their game when it comes to keeping the public safe from harm:
“As ANCAP continually lifts the bar in terms of required safety performance, manufacturers are rising to the challenge to not just meet minimum requirements for a 5 star safety rating, many are far exceeding it,” she said (via NZHerald).
The only downote to this announcement, is that it comes at a time when ANCAP (Australasia’s own safety testing organisation) will now be publishing the Euro NCAP results with its approval, without retesting. This has angered some groups, as ANCAP’s tests have traditionally been more stringent than their European counterpart’s.
According to Stocks however, this is to make safety regulations easier to understand for the public. With a standardised system that provides the same tests or at least, the same safety rating system around the world, people will have a better understanding of how safe the vehicle they want to buy really is. At least in theory.
Still, there are cars that will continue to be tested under the ANCAP standards and many have won top awards there recently. For example, the Hyundai Genesis recently received a near-perfect score, only dropping the ball on “acceptable” protection for the chest region of the driver. Other five star rated cars include the Mazda 3, the Toyota Corolla, Subaru WRX, the Skoda Rapid and the 2013 version of the Peugeot 2008 – a confusing name if ever we’ve read one.
While discussing safety features, Stocks said that the next few years should see the bar raised even more with the introduction of new automated safety features. It’s these, along with a few slightly older technologies that people should look out for when buying a new car she said.
“We’ve come a long way since driver airbags were considered state-of-the-art safety devices. More manufacturers are including AEB as standard and depending on the age of the car, buyers should be starting to expect to see electronic stability control (ESC) alongside the usual antilock brakes (ABS) and electronic brake distribution (EBD),” she said.
