Expanded auto-braking assessment and stricter pedestrian leg impact testing are among the biggest changes to Australian car safety regulations
More details of the impending ANCAP 2023 testing protocols have come to light, which will be expanded to include head-on, reversing and cyclist-junction testing of autonomous emergency braking (AEB) systems, more sophisticated vulnerable road user impact testing and cyclist dooring detection testing.
That first cluster of expanded AEB function testing builds on the previously detailed motorcyclist detection (AEB and lane support system) and will largely revolve around testing the expanded and enhanced range of vehicle AEB systems.
ANCAP says head-on collisions are some of the hardest to prevent due to the higher closing speeds, which is why AEB technology will need to detect an oncoming vehicle from a longer range and react faster.
This new testing will only contribute a maximum of one point to the overall Safety Assist score, however, the maximum amount of points on offer is being upped from 16 to 18 on account of the more stringent junction and car-to-car crossing impact detection testing.
The stricter criteria will see the available points in this area increase from two to four and ANCAP will focus more closely on sensor field-of-view and system reaction times than before.
By contrast, the points awarded for the lane support systems are being reduced from four to three.
However, none of these changes come close to the overhaul being applied to Vulnerable Road User testing and scoring, in which pedestrian leg impact protection testing in being overhauled and a trio of new collision avoidance tests added to the mix.
The changes to the leg impact tests come primarily in the form of a new, ‘more sophisticated leg form impactor’ designed to better resemble and represent an adult leg with upper-body mass.
This enhanced focus on 2023 ANCAP scores will result in leg impact scoring being upped from 12 to 18 points as of next year, however, vulnerable road user head impact testing will be dropped from 24 points to 18.
Meantime, collision avoidance system testing will soon assess the reverse AEB’s compatibility with child protection, the cyclist detection capabilities of the AEB’s junction assist system and the vehicle’s ability to alert occupants of an approaching cyclist (from the rear) before they can open the door.
Despite the new tests, each of these functions will still carry the same amount of maximum points as they do under the 2022 protocols, albeit with higher standards – see ANCAP’s updated score card in the adjoining gallery.
ANCAP tells us all of these changes, including the submerged vehicle occupant rescue and extraction testing announced earlier in the year, will be laid out in text, animation and video on its website later this year, most likely sometime in the fourth quarter.
carsales understands some early and initial aspects of V2X (vehicle-to-everything) like V2V (vehicle-to-vehicle) and V2I (vehicle-to-infrastructure) will be implemented into the 2023 testing, specifically ‘Local Hazards’ warnings being included into the Speed Limit Information Function (SLIF) assessment.
We also understand the weighting of the 2023 ANCAP tests will be minimal given the technology isn’t especially widespread or advanced just yet, however, an expansion of this field and its testing is anticipated to be made with the launch of the 2025-26 protocols.
There’s been no official word yet on when or if vehicle black boxes or ‘event data recorders’ will become part of ANCAP’s vehicle safety testing in the near to mid-term future – even though they’ve already been mandated in Europe by the EU – but will likely become more prevalent as automated driving technologies become more widespread.
As we’ve reported, the first update to ANCAP’s testing and scoring regime since 2020 will not only make it harder for new models to achieve a maximum five-star safety rating from the independent safety body, but could also lead to dozens of popular existing models losing their safety ratings.
