In an Australian first, ANCAP has examined some of Australia’s top-selling light trucks as part of a new initiative to boost safety standards.
While light trucks are increasing in popularity, safety experts believe advancements in safety features and technologies in the light truck segment haven’t kept pace with other vehicle classes.
Light trucks, along with other goods vehicles such as commercial vans and medium and heavy trucks, remain over-represented in fatal and serious injury crashes in Australia.
These vehicles make up less than 3 per cent of all registered vehicles on Australia’s roads, yet they are involved in approximately 15 per cent of all fatal crashes.
To combat this, ANCAP’s Light Truck ADAS Safety Comparison seeks to bring greater accountability and safety standards to the light truck segment through a new assessment regime.
The comparison has been undertaken to identify a baseline level of safety performance.
The program is an expansion of ANCAP’s highly trusted and respected safety regime which offers consumers and fleets with free, independent and trusted information to make informed decisions.
ANCAP has been testing and rating the safety performance of passenger vehicles for over 30 years and this information has led to a dramatic improvement in the safety of these vehicles, ensuring Australian road users benefit from the highest safety standards.
Light trucks represent an important segment of the vehicle market, responsible for the ‘last mile’ delivery to Aussie homes and as the transport vehicle of choice for many small to medium businesses nationwide.
Compared to other vehicle segments, light trucks offer carrying capacity at a relatively affordable price point, with the ability to be driven on a C Class (car) driver licence.
These factors and the growing scale of online shopping and delivery demand since the pandemic has led to an increased presence on the roads, with Australian light truck sales increasing by an average of 6.6 per cent per year since 2012.
ANCAP’s Carla Hoorweg said 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,” she said.
“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.
“As you can see from the performance insights, each of the truck models examined bring their individual merits, and all have complied with the Australian Government’s regulatory safety requirements ahead of their mandating, yet in comparison to other vehicle segments and consumer expectations, there is still a fair way to go.”
‘It’s not just about having the technology on board, we want to understand how well it works and where there can be areas of improvement.”
“Through this program we are aiming to drive positive change among the truck industry, fleet operators, and small business owners.
“From these inaugural findings, we expect to see safety performance improve quite quickly through voluntary updates introduced by manufacturers.”
Australia’s three top-selling light trucks, the Isuzu N-Series, Fuso Canter and Hino 300 Series, together with the highest-selling battery-electric (EV) light truck, the Foton T5, were selected for examination in this inaugural comparison.
The model ranges of these four trucks account for 74 per cent of all new Light Duty trucks sold (10,788 vehicles) in 2024.
Each of the four trucks were assessed at the Transport for NSW Future Mobility Testing & Research Centre and their performance was examined against criteria and procedures refined with input from truck manufacturers and industry representatives.
Findings from the comparison show that advanced safety technologies are available for and can be fitted to light trucks, yet current generation systems are limited in functionality.
The findings from this comparison have been used to determine baseline performance benchmarks with performance gradings to be introduced from 2026.
For the full results visit www.ancap.com.au/light-trucks.
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