Will ANCAP expand to include trucks?

There is no doubt that safety is top of mind for law makers, fleet owners and heavy-vehicle drivers. Truck manufacturers and importers are also big on safety and constantly espouse the safety features of their trucks at every opportunity.

But should we, like Europe is proposing to do, have a Big Brother like ANCAP looking over everyone’s shoulder and rating each truck on its safety merits?

Euro NCAP says that a rating system would create clear and simple ratings applicable to the operating area of each vehicle (either city or highway), giving fleet managers a simple way of appraising any given truck’s safety merits.

NCAP also said that it would appeal directly to the organisations that can promote vehicle safety using the Euro NCAP rating.

Euro NCAP is not looking to crash-test each truck on the market, merely give the trucks a rating based on the safety aspects of the truck.

ANCAP already has a rating system for commercial vans in Australia.

This system is based on what ANCAP calls ADAS Performance Test Results. ADAS is an acronym for Advanced Driver Assistance Systems, which encompasses safety systems such as autonomous emergency braking, or AEB (in various forms, including pedestrian and cyclist detection), as well as lane-keeping assistance, lane-departure warning, blind-spot monitoring, driver monitoring and more.

The vans are rated as to whether these types of systems are standard, optional or not available, and given a Platinum, Gold, Silver, Bonze or Not Recommended rating.

The commercial vans are broken down into two categories: Light Commercial Vans 2500-3500kg GVM and Heavy Commercial Vans 3501 to 8000kg GVM.

We assume that if ANCAP were to rate trucks, this would be sort of system that would be employed.

We asked our local ANCAP if it was intending to introduce a similar scheme in Australia and here, in part, is the body’s response…

“Both ANCAP and Euro NCAP share a vision to improve the safety of the Australian, New Zealand and European vehicle fleets through the expansion into safety assessments of a broader range of vehicle types, including heavy goods vehicles (trucks).

“Euro NCAP has put forward its plan to introduce a rating scheme assessing the active safety specification and performance capability of heavy trucks with the aim to encourage truck owners/operators, goods logistics companies, European road authorities, and truck manufacturers to prioritise safety and reduce truck-related road deaths and serious injuries.

“Over the past 30 years, ANCAP’s work in providing new car buyers with objective information about the relative safety of passenger vehicle models has led to a dramatic improvement in safety specifications, a significant and measurable improvement in vehicle crashworthiness, and a demonstrable reduction in road trauma. The heavy vehicle segment, however, has not been subjected to independent scrutiny in the same way as the passenger-car market.

“ANCAP is seeking to build upon its success in improving the safety of the light passenger vehicles by expanding its influence to independently assess and promote the safety of medium and heavy trucks.

“ANCAP will consult with local fleet and logistics operators, state and territory transport authorities and the truck industry on the development of a locally applicable truck grading scheme.

“Further details are expected to be announced later this year.”

ANCAP’s Chief Executive Officer, Carla Hoorweg, underlined the significance of the push.

“The move to explore assessment of trucks is a notable expansion for the Australian and New Zealand markets and will seek to address the over-representation of these vehicles in road fatalities and serious injuries,” she said.

“Significant safety improvements have entered the Australian and New Zealand vehicle markets over the past three decades as a result of ANCAP’s continuous drive to address the vehicle-safety-related challenges on our roads among the light vehicle fleet. There are, however, further safety gains that can be made through encouraging improved safety specification on medium and heavy trucks.”

Clearly, this points to the fact that we are in the firing line to get safety ratings for our trucks. What this means for the average owner/driver is probably not much save for the fact that they will know how the truck they are driving stacks up against others on the road in terms of safety.

Who it will benefit more are fleet buyers who will be able to see at a glance which truck meets their safety criteria.

We contacted the major players in the Australian medium- and heavy-duty truck market to see how they felt about their trucks coming under scrutiny from a body such as ANCAP, and most were loath to go on record to tell us exactly what they thought. This is understandable, as most are constrained by their overseas parent companies.

However, the feeling was summed up by Daimler Truck Australia Pacific President and CEO, Daniel Whitehead. “We would need to consider any proposal on its merits, but Daimler Truck has always been a strong supporter of advanced safety features across our Mercedes-Benz Trucks, Freightliner and Fuso brands,” he said.

“Whether or not this initiative happens in Australia, Daimler Truck would encourage all buyers to carefully consider the safety features in the truck they are considering buying and ask whether it has the best safety features available in the class in order to protect the driver and other road users,” Mr Whitehead added.

Here in Australia, all vehicles on our roads have to meet or surpass what are known as Australian Design Rules (ADRs). These rules ensure a certain standard of safety is adhered to before the vehicle hits the road.

However, the ADRs do not mandate the many optional safety features that are available to trucks. What the ANCAP rating system will do is point out to the would-be purchaser exactly where a given truck sits on the overall safety scale.

Which is probably why many of the truck manufacturers and importers didn’t want to talk to us about this issue. We’ll keep you posted as the topic heats up.