Fairness Of ANCAP Tests Called Into Question By Honda

Honda - specifically its Australian arm - have called into question the fairness of tests scores from the revered Australasia New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP).

Even with organisations that supposedly promises ‘unbiased’ and 'fair' safety assessments, it seems not all carmakers are willing to agree and concur with their findings. Recently, one automaker chose to draw the line.

Earlier this month, Australian media are reporting that Japanese automaker Honda – specifically in Australian arm – have called into question the fairness of the Australasian New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP).

According to the Japanese H marque's President and CEO in Australia, the exec claims the current way ANCAP displays its ratings makes it hard for consumers to understand.

In an interview with Australian site Drive, Honda Australia President and CEO Jay Joseph says the current way ANCAP displays its ratings make it hard for consumers to understand. “I question whether it is serving its purpose adequately if it’s not giving consumers a real measuring stick to compare models,” he said.

“If there is a sensitivity to when it was tested, but the consumer cannot decipher the role that plays in the number of stars, then I’m not convinced that it is serving consumers with a fair comparison of performance,” continued Jay further. In the past, ANCAP’s messaging has also been inconsistent with the way it presents the data, reports Drive further.

ANCAP typically dishes out overall test scores out of five (stars) for a vehicle's safety performance across both physical crash tests and advanced driver safety aids.

For the uninitiated, ANCAP is renowned for being one of the most stringent crash-testing regimes in the industry. Primarily, it’s renowned for giving overall scores out of five (stars) for a vehicle’s safety performance across physical crash testing and its advanced driver safety aids.

Besides that, ANCAP also updates its standards every three years in line with Euro NCAP and date-stamps each rating with an expiration of six years. In other words, a car tested and awarded a five-star score in 2022 will not measure up against a car that earned a maximum safety rating in 2026 as both are assessed on different criteria.

As such, buyers who might only come across the safety body mentioned when researching to buy new car – some reportedly as infrequently as every 10 years – might not be aware of said differing standards for any vehicle to achieve a the body’s coveted five-star score and status.

Last year, Honda Australia saw its Civic model earn two differing scores - a full five-stars rating for itd hybrid variant, but its non-hybrid guise as given a lower four-stars instead.

A clear case of which came for Honda Australia when ANCAP awarded the Civic with two different crash safety ratings – five-stars for the hybrid variant, and a lower four-stars for the now-discontinued non-hybrid variant. This was due to differing levels of safety specification, claims ANCAP at the time.

Similarly, The popular CR-V family SUV model was also awarded by ANCAP with just four-stars last year. This stemmed from tests that found the Euro NCAP five-star version of the same model was brimmed with an optional safety system upgrade that was unavailable to Australian market model.

For context, Honda isn’t the automaker dealt with such results of late. In fact, rivals like Kia and Hyundai were also amongst several other carmakers that were given ‘conflicting’ results as such with several of their key models.

Recently launched Malaysian-spec face-lifted Honda HR-V e:HEV RS pictured. Do you agree with Honda's arguments about the sometimes 'confusing' scores and results dished out by ANCAP?

“We see omnidirectional safety, and then apply as much crash avoidance technology as we can to the vehicles so that the crash doesn’t happen in the first place. Our aim is zero fatalities, I don’t think the goals of ANCAP are any different than that,” reasons Honda Australia President and CEO Jay Joseph further.

Then exec then argued by saying that if ANCAP wants consumers to make good choices, “they should do everything they can to make those comparisons as fair and equitable as possible.”