Feature article
Buying a safe car in NZ
When it comes to buying a safe car in NZ, the newer the car, the better its safety credentials.
Last updated: 13 January 2025
For those that still think they don’t make them like they used to, best check out this video from the US Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. It’s a bit old now, but it was made to acknowledge the advancement in car design over fifty years by staging a crash test between a 1959 Chevrolet Bel Air and a 2009 Chevrolet Impala. The results are fairly conclusive. And should this test be conducted today between models from 2009 and 2024, the passengers in the newer car would have the better chance of escaping serious injury. There’s the possibility that the newer car might just avoid the accident altogether thanks to the development of Advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS). A feature of newer cars, these remain alert to possible hazards and can intervene to help avoid or at least mitigate the outcomes of an accident.
How can you choose a safe car?
Organisations like Euro NCAP (that’s New Car Assessment Programme) and its local offshoot, the Australasian New Car Assessment Programme (ANCAP) call themselves the ‘independent voice on vehicle safety’. As stated on the ANCAP website; “We crash test cars and conduct performance assessments on safety features and technologies then publish a simple star rating to indicate relative safety performance.”
Each car gets a star rating out of five; those that excel in all categories get the maximum five stars indicating it’s a good choice for those that have safety high on their list of wants in a new car.
Over the last 30 years, ANCAP says it has “published independent safety ratings for thousands of new vehicles” and that these ratings can be “used to compare the relative safety between vehicles of similar size”.
ANCAP conducts tests to assess various aspects of a car’s performance in the crash test including both adult and child occupant protection, vulnerable road user protection and safety assist. The higher the score in each category, the safer the car is deemed to be.
How do I check the safety rating of a car?
Head to the ANCAP website, enter the make and model of the car you are considering and if it has been tested (Euro NCAP and ANCAP tend to test most new models but not all that are available here) it will spit out a detailed assessment of its crash test result.
A few things to consider
ANCAP says its scores can be used to compare the relative safety between vehicles of similar size. That last part is critical; unfortunately in a crash, might is right, and the bigger vehicle usually comes out better off. Germany’s ADAC, Europe's largest automobile association, once conducted a crash test between a five-star rated Fiat 500 and a four-star Audi Q7 to highlight compatibility issues in crash test results. Unsurprisingly, the larger four-star rated vehicle came out on top.
As the years go by, the ANCAP testing gets harder with new models having to meet more stringent testing requirements. And so some five-star rated cars that were tested a few years ago might not get the same top rating if they were re-tested to the latest standards. So that makes it confusing for the average punter trying to make the right choice. As such, each crash test report states which year the test was conducted.
The new testing regime puts more emphasis on ADAS features, and so those cars that do not feature all the systems will not have a chance of scoring a full set of stars.
Author
Kyle has been reviewing cars since starting at NZ Autocar magazine in 2003 and has been editor since 2009. In that time he’s become an expert on what makes for a good vehicle while also gaining insights into the local automotive industry.
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