The Australian Government will provide $2.2 million to continue support for the Australasian New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP) over the next two years.

Minister for Infrastructure and Transport Darren Chester announced the Government’s continued commitment to ANCAP during National Road Safety Week.

“The Australian Government aims for a safe system approach to reducing road trauma through safer drivers on safer roads in safer vehicles,” Mr Chester said.

“Road crashes devastate too many families and communities with over 1200 lives lost each year and more than 30,000 seriously injured.”

“Safety should be top-of-mind every time we get in our cars and Australians need to be mindful of the benefits of purchasing cars with high safety ratings.

“When purchasing a vehicle, it is important to remember that not all cars are created equal. The combination of a sound structure and good restraint systems will provide the best chance of survival in a crash. While cars with active safety technologies, such as autonomous emergency braking (AEB), could in fact prevent a crash altogether.”

ANCAP chair, Wendy Machin said it is encouraging that the Australian Government has again affirmed its commitment to ANCAP and promoting safer vehicles for a further two years with the potential for further long term support.

“This support, teamed with the long-term commitment of our other 22 member organisations, will further enhance our safety rating program as we move to ensure testing remains relevant over the next few years. Consumers will have greater information and choice which will encourage vehicle importers to ensure we have world best practice safety in our cars,” Ms Machin said.

“The ANCAP program is evolving to keep pace with new safety technologies and the progression to vehicle automation. We are developing a new global test protocol with our European counterparts so that vehicle crash test data can be shared between the organisations from 2018.”