BYD The ANCAP Safety Rating Value Is Now Difficult For Consumers To Understand

BYD Shark, who is quite well-selling in Australia. (Photo: BYD)

JAKARTA - BYD Australia assesses that the safety rating system used by the New Autonomous Car Assessment Program (ANCAP) is increasingly difficult for consumers to understand. Although all BYD models that have been tested have obtained five stars.

However, the company opens the possibility of selling four-star vehicles if deemed to be in accordance with market needs. Australian BYD boss Stephen Collins said the growing ANCAP assessment criteria confused the public.

I think it's confusing for customers with all the different protocols, every year is different. I think it's really confusing. Personally, I think they do have a role, but it can be very confusing for customers," Collins said as quoted by Drive, Monday, November 17.

ANCAP is now aligned with the Euro NCAP standard and renews testing protocols every three years. The next cycle is scheduled to take effect in early 2026, to simplify understanding, ANCAP applies a six-year validity period for each assessment result.

A number of models from big brands have recently not reached their maximum ranking. Hyundai Kona and Inster, Kia K4, MG 3, Cupra Tavascan, and Honda CR-V won four stars.

While Hyundai i30 Sedan, Jeep Fighter, and Suzuki Swift are on three stars according to the latest standards. Collins insists BYD is still pursuing the highest safety standards.

This includes adding an emergency call (eCall) feature for future models such as the big Sealion 8 SUV. However, he assessed that even four-star cars are still worth marketing.

Our position is, we want to make our car as safe as possible. I mean, four-star cars are very safe cars.

"I think we prefer five-star cars, but generally four-star cars are very safe cars," he said.

"I think our targets will always be five, but if there is a four-star car, which fits the market, and meets all the criteria, that's possible. Look, all of this adds a huge cost, but obviously there is a role for that [ANCAP]," added Collins.

BYD is not the only producer who thinks four stars are still acceptable. Mitsubishi, through Australia's Mitsubishi Product Strategy General Manager Bruce Hampel, previously stated that reaching five stars is currently becoming increasingly unrealistic.

"Some other OEMs are experiencing the same thing because the cost is getting more and more expensive to give five stars, this really questions the value it offers customers," said Hampel.

He assessed that the rank of four stars in the latest protocol was actually much safer than the five stars in the previous generation. Hampel also said that the increasing safety features that must be installed actually overwhelmed some customers.

"What we see now, seeing all the safety features available to customers, many of them react by saying it's too complicated, and wants to turn everything off easily," said Hampel.

"Some types of features that ANCAP requires are currently not well received in the market, and there are many rejections of ANCAP to try and moderate their expectations in the future," he concluded.