With safety features and technologies fitted to light trucks still lagging behind other vehicle classes, ANCAP has launched a new program aimed at enhancing safety standards for the segment.
ANCAP is Australia and New Zealand’s independent safety testing organisation, assessing and rating the safety performance of passenger cars for 30 years.
Now ANCAP has taken that one step further, examining safety performance of these top-selling light trucks: Isuzu N-Series, Fuso Canter and Hino 300 Series, together with the highest-selling battery-electric (EV) light truck, the Foton T5.
ANCAP says that lights trucks, along with other goods vehicles such as commercial vans and medium and heavy trucks, remain over-represented in fatal and serious injury crashes in Australia.
These vehicles make up less than 3 per cent of all registered vehicles on Australia’s roads, yet are involved in approximately 15 per cent of all fatal crashes.
To combat this, ANCAP’s Light Truck ADAS Safety Comparison, launched yesterday, seeks to bring greater accountability and safety standards to the light truck segment through a new assessment regime.
The comparison has been undertaken to identify a baseline level of safety performance.
Compared to other vehicle segments, light trucks offer carrying capacity at a relatively affordable price point, with the ability to be driven on a car licence.
ANCAP says these factors and the growing scale of online shopping and delivery demand since the Covid pandemic has led to an increased presence on the roads, with Australian light truck sales increasing by an average of 6.6 per cent per year since 2012.
ANCAP Chief Executive Officer, Carla Hoorweg said, “When it comes to road safety, the human cost of doing nothing is too great to ignore. We call on the entire industry to embrace this as an opportunity to prioritise improving the safety features in their vehicles and recognise the positive role they can play in making our roads safer for all Australians.
“As you can see from the performance insights, each of the truck models examined bring their individual merits, and all have complied with the Australian Government’s regulatory safety requirements ahead of their mandating, yet in comparison to other vehicle segments and consumer expectations, there is still a fair way to go.
“It’s not just about having the technology on board, we want to understand how well it works and where there can be areas of improvement.
“Through this program we are aiming to drive positive change among the truck industry, fleet operators, and small business owners.”
From the inaugural findings, Hoorweg says ANCAP expects to see safety performance improve quite quickly through voluntary updates introduced by manufacturers.
With the four popular light trucks selected by ANCAP for comparison, the model ranges account for 74 per cent of all new light duty trucks sold (10,788 vehicles) in 2024.
Each of the four trucks were assessed at the Transport for NSW Future Mobility Testing & Research Centre – a National Association of Testing Authorities (NATA) accredited laboratory – and their performance was examined against criteria and procedures refined with input from truck manufacturers and industry representatives.
Each of the four trucks were purchased independently on the retail market and tested to the same standards and processes to ensure a fair, accurate and independent safety assessment.
ANCAP says the purchase of these vehicles from dealerships is essential to ensuring its independent testing process, as it ensures the vehicles being tested are the same as a buyer would be receiving and driving on Australian roads.
The features examined included the fitment and performance of low and high-speed autonomous emergency braking (AEB), lane support systems, speed assistance systems and occupant detection.
Airbag and seatbelt fitment was also examined, with all four trucks lacking these features for the centre passenger seating position.
Considering the potential weight of goods being transported, assessments were undertaken with each truck laden to 50 per cent of its goods carrying capacity. Additional assessments were carried out with differing load conditions to examine any variance in performance.
Foton Mobility Distribution (FMD) welcomed the release of the ANCAP Light Truck Safety Report as a good first step to bring even better and safer light duty commercial transport to the Australian market.
FMD’s CEO Neil Wang said, “FMD and my associated group of businesses fully support the ANCAP report and its intentions. As noted in the report, the presence and performance of safety features within the light truck market segment significantly lags that of passenger vehicles and light commercial vehicles (such as vans). ANCAP’s expansion into the testing and assessment of light trucks is therefore welcomed as it affords us all with an opportunity to work with our respective OEM’s to add the necessary safety features into our future products, thus complementing product performance and reliability with enhanced safety.”
Transurban Head of Road Safety Liz Waller also welcomed ANCAP’s latest work.
“Transurban strongly supports the release of ANCAP’s Light Truck ADAS Safety Comparison, and applauds this important step forward in improving road safety across Australia and New Zealand.
“Light trucks play a vital role in the transport and logistics sector, yet they are over-represented in serious road crashes. Establishing a transparent, independent safety benchmark for this vehicle segment is a timely and necessary initiative.
“As we mark National Road Safety Week, it’s important to recognise and promote innovations that can lead to real reductions in road trauma. At Transurban, we are committed to making our roads safer for everyone. By highlighting differences in advanced driver assistance system – ADAS – performance and encouraging continuous safety improvements across manufacturers, this program will help keep drivers safer and reduce the risk of serious injury or death for all road users.”
Findings from the light truck comparison show that advanced safety technologies are available for and can be fitted to light trucks, yet current generation systems are limited in functionality.
With new and updated models expected to be introduced by truck manufacturers soon, ANCAP says the opportunity exists for manufacturers to go beyond regulatory basics and provide their customers with the best products possible. Safety improvements are expected in new generations set for late 2025 and beyond.
The findings from this comparison have been used to determine baseline performance benchmarks with performance gradings to be introduced from 2026.
The full report can be found here.
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