ANCAP SAFETY has launched a road safety program in a bid to curb growing road fatalities, following the highest road toll in Australia in over a year.
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Australian road fatalities reached a 12-year high in 2024 with 1,301 deaths, and despite light trucks making up less than 3 per cent of all registered vehicles on Australian roads, they are involved in approximately 15 per cent of all fatal crashes.
In an Australian first, ANCAP is working to improve the safety of light trucks to a level closer to the safety standards seen and expected in passenger cars, Utes and vans, since Australia has experienced a light truck popularity boom.
Despite increasing in popularity, the breadth of technology and safety features haven’t kept pace with other vehicle classes.
To combat this, ANCAP’s Light Truck ADAS Safety Comparison has launched to bring greater accountability and safety standards to the light truck segment through a new assessment regime.
ANCAP CEO Carla Hoorweg says this is a new chapter for the segment and the first time light trucks have come under independent examination.
“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,” she says.
“While ANCAP has had a close eye on passenger cars, SUVs, Utes and vans for many years, the presence and performance of safety features on light trucks has gone without scrutiny. If we are serious about making Australian roads safer, now is the time to close the gap and elevate the safety benchmark for light trucks.
“We acknowledge that each of the light trucks examined have been fitted with some safety technologies above those required by regulation and ahead of their mandating, but the unfortunate reality is light trucks are over-represented in road fatalities and serious crashes, so we can no longer afford to leave the performance of these safety features unknown or untested.”
Australia’s three top-selling light trucks, the Isuzu N-Series, Fuso Canter, Hino 300 Series, and the Foton T5, were selected for examination.
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.
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.
Inaugural insights show that advanced safety technologies are available for and can be fitted to light trucks, yet current generation systems are limited in functionality.
With truck manufacturers expected to introduce new and updated models soon, the opportunity exists to go beyond regulatory basics and provide customers with the best possible product.
The findings from this comparison have been used to determine baseline performance benchmarks with performance gradings to be introduced from 2026.
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