A safe car will help protect you and your passengers if you are involved in a crash. Buying the safest car you can afford could save your life.

If everyone drove the safest car in its class, road trauma involving light passenger vehicles could be reduced by 26%.

If cars incorporated the safest design elements for their class, trauma could be reduced by 40%.

What makes a car safe?

In a crash, different cars offer different levels of protection. Different combinations of features also impact on the safety of your car.

A car with a high safety rating and safety features will provide the best protection in a crash.

Car Safety Ratings

The Australasian New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP) tests new cars in crash situations and gives them star ratings from 1 – 5.

The more stars the higher the safety rating and the lower the chance of you or your passengers being seriously injured or killed in a crash.

5 stars is the highest rating but if you can’t achieve that, aim to buy a car with a minimum 4 star safety rating.

ANCAP

Most new cars will easily meet the 4 star rating, but you don’t have to buy a new car to have a safe car. There are safe cars available in the used car market.

The Used Car Safety Rating (UCSR) program provides used cars with safety ratings based on crash data from around Australia and New Zealand.

The ratings represent how well a car can help to prevent serious injury to people involved in a crash.  The ratings consider driver protection and protection for other road users.

Check out the safety rating of your car at:
http://www.ancap.com.au 
http://www.howsafeisyourcar.com.au