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Used car safety ratings - 2008 update

Passenger vehicles built 1982-2006

These ratings give an indication of how safe 349 common Australian and New Zealand used-vehicle models are likely to be in a crash.

View the ratings

  • by type or make of vehicle - showing how much your vehicle is likely to protect you, and also how seriously you might harm other road users
  • in PDF (print version, 1.9 MB) - showing overall crash safety performance

In a crash

How much is your car likely to:

  • protect you
  • harm other road users?

You’ve got your sights set on that car. It’s the right price, looks good, and it’s the perfect size for what you need. But there are two important factors you may not have thought about. It is important that your vehicle offers you good protection from injury in a crash, but it is also important that your vehicle offers good protection to other road users, such as pedestrians, cyclists, motorcyclists or the drivers of other vehicles, who may also be involved in the crash. For example, the crash statistics analysed by Monash University indicate that large 4WDs are more likely to cause serious injuries to other road users in a crash than most other vehicle types.

For the first time this year, the Used Car Safety Ratings charts on the PDF version of the brochure provide you with an overall crash safety rating which includes a model’s impact on unprotected road users and drivers of other vehicles. If you are serious about reducing road trauma you need to consider how your vehicle protects all road users, not just its own occupants.

If you care about the safety of both yourself and others, consider choosing one of the best-rated models.

Protecting you in a crash

If all vehicle designs were equivalent to the safest model, the number of fatal and disabling crash injuries could be significantly reduced. Safety design features that may significantly reduce the risk of death or injury include:

  • crumple zones
  • collapsible steering columns
  • reinforced door frames
  • front, side and curtain airbags
  • seat belts designed to work with airbags.

The charts in this section show safety ratings for 349 vehicle models.

Myths about vehicle safety

MYTH: You can take more risks if you’ve got a vehicle with safety features – they will save you in a crash.
FACT: While safety features are more likely to increase your chances of surviving a crash, they don’t make you indestructible. Safety features won’t necessarily save you from death or serious injury, particularly if you’re speeding or not wearing your seat belt.

MYTH: A safe vehicle is more expensive.
FACT: Many reasonably priced makes and models score very well in the safety ratings and better than some of the more expensive models.

How these safety ratings are calculated

Revised rating system
The vehicle ratings in the 2008 update are based on a new rating system and are not comparable with the ratings in previous years’ brochures. The ratings in the PDF version of this brochure reflect how well individual models protect ALL road users from injury in the event of a crash, including cyclists, pedestrians and drivers of other vehicles. This is a better guide to the total community impact of vehicle safety. However, the results presented on this website disply two ratings - how much your vehicle is likely to protect you, and how much it is likely to harm other road users.

The ratings are about the risk of injury related to vehicle design in the event of a crash. They are not about the risk of being involved in the crash in the first place, which is generally determined by a range of factors including driver behaviour and crash environment.

This update features 349 vehicle models. New makes and models of used vehicles, as well as an additional year of crash data, have been added for this update. The scores for each individual make/model are compared against the ‘average’ for all vehicles.

An important finding of the Used Car Safety Ratings is that on average newer models provide their occupants with better protection from injury in a crash. These improvements come from better structural designs, as well as an increase in the fitting of safety features such as front, side and curtain airbags, more advanced seat belt systems and vehicle interiors built with plastics instead of steel, so that they provide padding when struck by a human occupant.

While average vehicle safety levels have improved over time, there is significant variation even between vehicle models of the same age. Furthermore, some vehicle models, including recent ones, provide good protection for their own occupants in a crash but do not score well in these overall safety ratings because they present a relatively high risk of injury to other road users in the crash. The Used Car Safety Ratings assist buyers to select vehicle models that provide the best protection for all road users including themselves.

Won't certain kinds of vehicles score a good rating because of the types of people who drive them or where they are driven?

These factors were taken into account as much as possible when the data was analysed. The rating factors out the effect, as much as possible, of who was driving the vehicle – and where.

What's the difference between these ratings and new car safety ratings?

New car safety ratings (eg ANCAP) are determined by crash testing vehicles in a controlled laboratory setting while the used car safety ratings in this brochure are calculated using data from police reports on actual crashes. Research shows that the two ratings systems correlate well overall. However, the results should not be compared directly because the different sources of the ratings can lead to differences in the assessment of some vehicles.

Any vehicle safety rating system can only provide an indication of the relative levels of protection between vehicles you can expect in the event of a crash. Whether or not you die or are seriously injured in a crash also depends on how safely you drive your vehicle.

Newer vehicles are safer

An important finding of the Used Car Safety Ratings is that on average newer models provide their occupants with stronger protection in a crash. These improvements come from better structural designs, as well as an increase in the fitment of safety features such as front, side and curtain airbags, more advanced seat belt systems and even vehicle interiors built with plastics instead of steel that provide padding when struck by a human occupant.

However, while vehicle safety levels have improved over time on average, the Used Car Safety Ratings allow buyers to select the individual models that provide the best protection for them and other road users.

Where to find out more

For more information or answers to frequently asked questions, visit the website of the organisation nearest to you:

New Zealand

Australia

Victoria

New South Wales

Western Australia

Queensland

South Australia

Last updated: 22 July 2008