Safe Vehicles
With vehicle age and relative safety being one of the key contributors to road fatalities, safe vehicle choices can have a significant effect on your survivability in a crash. Today’s vehicles can even help avoid a crash in the first place.
A ‘mistake’ on the road – whether it be yours or someone else’s – can be fatal, so making a safer choice when buying or riding in a vehicle could mean the difference between life and death.
When it comes to safety, not all cars are equal. Some safety features like front airbags come standard in most new vehicles, but other technologies don't. Important safety features to look out for in both new and used cars include:
- Electronic Stability Control (ESC)
- Lane Departure Warning
- Side Curtain Airbags
- Autonomous Emergency Braking
Used Car Safety Ratings
The Used Car Safety Ratings brochure helps identify safer models among second-hand vehicles.
The more stars, the safer the vehicle.
Safety ratings are provided for used vehicles based on over 9 million vehicles involved in police-reported road crashes.
The vehicle’s size and weight, design, and safety features, such as airbags and types of seatbelts, are all taken into account.
The 2023 ratings provide a score on Overall Safety, which is broken down into three separate components:
- Driver Safety - how well the vehicle protects its driver from being killed or seriously injured in a crash
- Other Road User Safety - how well the vehicle protects other drivers, pedestrians, bicycle riders and motorcyclists from being killed or seriously injured in a crash
- Crash Avoidance – how well the vehicle’s key crash avoidance technologies reduce the likelihood of being involved in a crash
The brochure also highlights 'Safer Picks'. These are vehicles that have achieved the maximum five-star occupant safety rating and are also fitted with key crash-avoidance technologies, such as Autonomous Emergency Braking and Lane Departure Warning. A 'Safer Pick' vehicle provides excellent driver protection and causes less serious injury to other road users in a crash.
Research by Monash University shows that you are ten times more likely to be killed or seriously injured driving the worst rated vehicle, than in the safest vehicle.
ANCAP Safety Ratings
The Australasian New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP) is Australasia's independent vehicle safety advocate.
ANCAP provides Australian and New Zealand consumers with independent vehicle safety ratings on new light vehicle models. ANCAP provides consumers with transparent advice and information on the level of occupant and pedestrian protection provided by different vehicle models in the most common types of crashes, as well as their ability - through technology - to avoid a crash.
The more stars, the better the vehicle performed in ANCAP tests. To achieve the maximum five-star ANCAP safety rating, a vehicle must meet the highest standards in all tests and feature advanced safety assist technologies.
How safe is your car?
How safe is your car? helps car buyers find the safest car in their price range. It includes both ANCAP and Used Car Safety Ratings vehicles. Younger drivers face many challenges when learning the complex skill of driving and face a high risk of being involved in a crash. Despite making up only about 15 per cent of all licence holders, the crashes which involve younger drivers (aged under 26 years) account almost a quarter of annual road fatalities*. Many drivers don’t realise the difference a 5 star rated car can make in saving a life. All road users are encouraged to choose the safest vehicle within their price range.
P1 and P2 drivers are banned from driving high performance vehicles. Find out more on our P1/P2 vehicle search.
*Over the five year period 2015 to 2019p
Vehicle Safety Features
Newer vehicles provide increased protection in a crash and include a range of advanced safety features and technologies which can help you avoid or reduce the severity of a crash. Here are some of the vehicle safety features you should look out for when purchasing a used or new vehicle. These safety features may not be included in many used vehicles, especially older models, so it is important to check if you’re looking to purchase. Some vehicle safety features can also be added to older vehicles to improve their safety. Check with your car manufacturer or mechanic.
Autonomous Emergency Braking
Forward Collision Warning
Anti-lock Braking System
Blind Spot Monitoring
Electronic Stability Control
Airbags
Lane Departure Warning
Lane Keep Assist
Reversing cameras and parking sensors
Vehicle Safety Features
Autonomous Emergency Braking
Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB) alerts a driver to an imminent crash and will apply the brakes automatically if the situation becomes critical and the driver does not respond.
Almost one third of all light vehicle crashes can been avoided or mitigated by AEB. Research shows AEB can reduce rear-end crash severity by 53% and reduce rear-end crashes by 35%.
There are four main types of AEB systems on the market:
- AEB car-to-car systems: detects the presence of a potential hazard in front of the vehicle
- Vulnerable road user AEB: detects other road users like bicycle riders, pedestrians and motorcyclists to avoid collisions
- Junction assist AEB: prevents collisions when a vehicle is turning across an intersection
- Backover AEB: detects pedestrians and vehicles while the car is in reverse to prevent a back-over collision.
Vehicle Safety Features
Forward Collision Warning
Forward Collision Warning (FCW) systems alert a driver to an imminent crash in front of the vehicle with an audible alert. FCW do not apply the brakes automatically, unlike AEB.
FCW systems can be easily added to older vehicles to improve their safety. Even if you’re not in the market for a new car, you can add this to your current vehicle. Talk to your mechanic or an aftermarket supplier.
Vehicle Safety Features
Anti-lock Braking System
Antilock braking system (ABS) is a system which prevents the wheels of a vehicle from locking up during severe braking. By keeping the wheels rotating, ABS helps a vehicle maintain traction on the road, which assists the driver to steer and control the vehicle. In most cases, ABS assists to reduce stopping distances and improve vehicle control during severe braking on dry or slippery road conditions.
ABS is significantly more effective when combined with other technologies such as Electronic Stability Control. ABS is recommended as a minimum safety feature when considering a used vehicle purchase.
Vehicle Safety Features
Blind Spot Monitoring
Blind spot monitoring technology detects and alerts you when another vehicle enters your blind spot. Typically this is when a vehicle is behind and to one side of your vehicle, such as when overtaking.
This technology uses visual, audible and/or tactile warnings to alert the driver that it is unsafe to change lanes.
Advanced technologies can significantly reduce the risk of a crash, however you should still always check your blind spots when you are:
- Changing lanes
- Leaving or returning to the kerb
- Merging
- Reversing
- Turning, or
- Leaving the inside lane of a multi lane roundabout.
Vehicle Safety Features
Electronic Stability Control
Electronic Stability Control (ESC) helps you to stabilise your vehicle if you start to lose control, such as by swerving or skidding. ESC works by automatically applying the brakes to one or more wheels when it senses loss of driver control, helping the driver to regain control and safely avoid a crash. It can also assist in correcting understeer and oversteer when turning a corner or swerving to avoid an obstacle on the road.
Australian research shows ESC is particularly effective in preventing single-vehicle crashes including roll-over and off-curve crashes. It reduces risk by about one quarter for cars and over half for four-wheel drives. ESC is mandatory on all new cars and very common on used cars, so when buying a used car, ensure you check it is included.
Vehicle Safety Features
Airbags
Airbags are designed to cushion the body in the event of a collision, reducing the likelihood of serious injury.
This video shows how airbags could save your life when involved in a crash. If you were driving this car with side curtain airbags and had a side-impact crash into a pole or tree, your chance of a serious head injury is about 1%. But without side airbags, this increases to 98%.
Vehicles can be fitted with numerous airbags, with the number typically increasing as these safety systems have evolved over time. Airbag positions include:
- Front airbags: positioned in front of the driver and front passenger
- Side torso airbags: typically positioned to come out of the door side of the seat
- Knee airbags: positioned underneath the steering column
- Curtain airbags: positioned to drop down from above the doors.
- Centre airbags: positioned to eject between the driver and front passenger. These are often fitted in new vehicles, and deploy in the event of a side-on crash.
In newer vehicles, seatbelt pretensioners, which pull the seatbelt tight during a crash, are often fitted to the front seats and work in conjunction with airbags.
Vehicle Safety Features
Lane Departure Warning
Lane departure warning (LDW) can read lane markings and will alert you if you drift out of your lane. The warnings vary between different systems and include visual and audible signals and may also provide vibrations through the steering wheel to simulate the feeling of the car running over a 'rumble strip'. The system disengages when an indicator is in use.
LDW systems rely on distinct lane markings with some systems having the ability to recognise painted lane markings and reflective strips. Some can also detect and maintain the vehicle’s path within a non-marked road edge such as a gravel or grassed road shoulder.
LDW systems can be easily added to older vehicles to improve their safety. Even if you’re not in the market for a new car, you can add this to your current vehicle. Talk to your mechanic or an aftermarket supplier.
Vehicle Safety Features
Lane Keep Assist
Lane keep assist (LKA) uses the same technology as lane departure warning, with the added feature of steering you back into your lane if you do not correct your steering.
When the car is close to a marking, the system gently steers it away from the line until safely within the lane.
The system disengages when an indicator is in use. LKA can reduce the risk of injury from head-on and single vehicle crashes by about 20%.
Vehicle Safety Features
Reversing cameras and parking sensors
Reverse cameras help you to see what is behind your vehicle when reversing.
Some newer vehicles also include a 360-degree camera system that can give a ‘birds-eye view’ of the vehicle’s surrounds. This can make parking easier in tight spaces such as carparks, garages or shopping centres, as well as making it safer for pedestrians moving around the vehicle.
Parking sensors can help detect objects to the front or rear of your vehicle which might not be visible to you when parking. A beeping sound will alert you when you are close to another object. The beeps become louder and more frequent as you get closer.
In many newer vehicles, coloured lines on a dashboard also display, to show how close the back of the car is to the object.