The new 2026 Australasian New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP) protocols have been locked in for the next three years, with a simpler set of rules designed to be more effective.
ANCAP protocols, which were designed with the European New Car Assessment Programme (Euro NCAP), move from what safety bodies describe as a ‘box-ticking’ system to’stages of safety’ approach.
It’s a big step forward, not just ‘just an update on the skin of this but it’ll be.’ Speaking at an event in Europe where childcareman.xyz was attending, ANCAP CEO Carla Hoorweg said ‘This isn’t going to take any further steps.
A crash test doesn’t start and end with a safety for vehicles, “Vehicle”. Systems should prevent it before a crash; when occupants and vulnerable road users are involved in crashing, the vehicle must protect people from being around it; after if an emergency services respond quickly and effectively. – ’.
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The four stages of safety are Safe Driving, Crash Avoidance, Crash Protection and Post Crash.
Out of 100, each will be scored out of the 100 with set minimum thresholds in each stage for a car to get rated five-star overall safety.
Under the 2026 ANCAP protocols, it is expected that the first test under this protocol will be conducted around April/May with the initial rating being published in July.
“This new approach reflects the full journey of a crash event,” said Ms Hoorweg.
“It better reflects the complexity of modern vehicles, and it makes the rating system easier for consumers to understand.
The aim of is the same, we don’t change our target. Our mission is aimed at reducing death and serious injury to roads in Australia or New Zealand, and that goal sits behind all protocols; every test; each rating we publish.
But we’re evaluating today’s cars very different from the ones we were testing even 10 years ago,’ said. In a growing software-defined vehicle, vehicles are increasingly dependent on sensors, algorithms and connectivity.
The response of this shift is directly reacted to by “The 2026 protocols” that responds. And they make sure that we assesses our cars’ current architecture, and real crash patterns in the road where we see modern vehicles. Paraphrasingr ’It is.
Stage 1: Safe Driving – reducing reliance on touchscreens
The first stage examines systems designed to encourage good driver behaviour and reduce the risk of a collision, including fatigue monitoring and preventive advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS)).
Such as ’distraction by design’, such as whether key features are hidden in touchscreen menus, making them cumbersome to access – echoing consumer complaints about the move away from physical buttons.
Mr Hoorweg said ‘Driver monitoring systems need to be’real-capable’ to detect distractions and fatigue, and speed assistance systems must prove both accuracy and meaningful driver engagement.
Further testing of speed limit recognition systems is also being used in new real-world tests, with cars tested across several countries for different signs due to differences in signage design.
She said ‘Vehicles will be assessed by road signs and driving environments that reflect Australia and New Zealand conditions – accuracy in these systems is essential if they are to truly support safer driving.
“For manufacturers, this means a higher engineering standard will be required to achieve a five-star rating under ANCAP protocols.”
Stage 2: Crash Avoidance – focus on real-world ADAS performance
The five-star ANCAP rating is now dependent on driving experience, with penalties for intrusive or poorly calibrated safety systems that are more harmful than good.
“A major focus of the 2026 protocols is the real-world behaviour of driver assistance systems,” said Ms Hoorweg.
The ANCAP will assess the effectiveness andsensitivity of forward collision warning (FCW), autonomous emergency braking (AEB) and lane support systems (LSS) as well as driver monitoring systems.
They test whether these systems perform well at night and in the rain as they do during daylight, or can they detect vulnerable road users like traffic workers wearing high-visibility clothing according to new protocols.
This work is now directly reflected into the shared testing criteria for 2026, and has led to extensive research in which ANCAP was heavily involved in studying how baseline systems behave when drivers actually use them. – ’.
Protections also measure how fast steering reacts when lane support activates, how much driver input is required to override an unwarranted intervention and how aggressively the vehicle moves within one of these Laneway traffic.
Ms Hoorweg said ‘Because driver assistance systems have to do exactly that – help the driver – not surprise or compete with the car.
In addition, they also look at whether a vehicle can detect and stop ‘pedal misapplication’ when he accidentally presses the accelerator rather than the brake.
Pedestrian and cyclist protection, junction crash avoidance, and driver monitoring systems are also key areas of focus.
Stage 3: Crash Protection
The phase focuses on the physical crash structure of a car and includes more comprehensive assessment across different types of individuals, as well as an expanded range of crash scenarios.
“Structural crash protection will remain the foundation of occupant safety,” said Ms Hoorweg.
“Early engagement with ANCAP continues to help manufacturers meet these expectations and deliver stronger outcomes.”
If a seat or seat rail fails – as seen in the MG 3 crash test in 2025 – an automatic 50 per cent loss of points will apply in this category, effectively ruling out a five-star rating.
In rollover scenarios, vehicles must ensure curtain airbags remain inflated long enough to provide protection throughout the crash.
The full-width frontal crash test now uses a deformable barrier instead of rigged wall, which allows better analysis of airbag performance. Several other passengers, including an additional dummy in the front passenger seat, also include more occupants.
The frontal offset test is a double-adult and two-child dummy test, with the previous ‘male’ driver summy replaced by – but smaller ‘female.’ occupant of the vehicle (pictured)
Ms Hoorweg said ANCAP still conducts crash testing with the child restraint systems adopted in Australia and New Zealand, so that protection for passengers to families is more consistent than how families actually travel.’ The program was designed by Child safety at its core of our programme.
Stage 4: Post Crash
This is the final stage of examining what happens after an accident, which deals with the ‘golden hour’ response by emergency services and vehicle systems.
This includes multi-collision braking, the ease or difficulty of pulling out people (including issues like electric door handles), and rescue guides for electric vehicles (EVs) to reduce the risk of electric shock.
Ms Hoorweg said ‘We’re bolstering our assessment to encourage eCall [emergency services call] systems into the Australian and New Zealand markets.
“These are markets where there is currently no regulatory requirement for post-crash contact with emergency services.”
Europe mandated eCall systems, which automatically contact emergency services in the event of a collision, in 2018.
EV fire risks are also studied in the 2026 protocols – both for those who live on board and first responders – whether high-voltage batteries burn, how warnings are communicated to people or how incidents are signalled externally.
Mr Hoorweg said ‘Working with manufacturers and suppliers means protocols are still based on the actual solution of our common road safety problems that we’re all facing.
Euro NCAP technical director Richard Schram said the new protocols have been developed to be easier for consumers to understand.
He said ‘What consumers want is more transparency; they want to know how these systems work, and they would like to trust them.’ Mr Schram said he was in the news after hearing about this latest system.
It’s really a turning point in safety, where we are expanding our scope and making the life of manufacturers more difficult to ensure that they are carrying safe vehicles. Paraphrasingr ’It is.
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