My car

safety is not an option

Proven vehicle safety technology such as airbags and ABS are not luxury items - but many consumers are forced to buy them packaged with the likes of air-conditioning and sunroofs or miss out altogether.

While driver airbags were once considered a luxury, they are now quite common. As other equipment, such as side airbags and advanced braking systems, becomes more affordable, RACV encourages motorists to view them as necessary.

However, when it comes to making safety equipment available to the consumer, Australia lags behind other parts of the world. While side airbags may be standard on models in Europe, manufacturers often remove them from the model that is sold in Australia. So when it comes to vehicle safety features, we are missing out.

Safety features for car buyers to consider

Duel frontal airbags Passenger front airbag Advanced (dual stage) airbags Side thorax (chest) airbags Side curtain (head protecting) airbags Side chest/head (combination) airbags Seatbelt pretensioners Seatbelt load limiters ABS brakes Vehicle stability control Electronic brake assist Electronic brake distribution Traction control Dynamic head restraints

Of the 15 top-selling cars in Australia, side airbags are standard on only one and offered as an option on three others. Selecting side airbags as an option may cost an additional $500, or it may require the buyer to purchase a higher-specified variant of that car. In some cases, this could cost $9000 on top of the base model price.

In other cases, side airbags are only available as an extra-cost option, packaged with the likes of power windows to the tune of $2000 or more. Buyers regularly face similar problems when specifying other types of safety features such as ABS brakes.

New and upcoming vehicle safety technologies such as intelligent airbags and collision avoidance systems promise future benefits for motorists. But RACV believes the car-makers' priority should be fitting their new models with current safety features that have already displayed proven benefits.

Safety equipment is often not fitted to those vehicles that need it the most, namely small cars which, due to their size, often provide less occupant protection than larger models. Commercial vehicles such as utes regularly miss out on basic features such as a driver's airbag. And 4WDs generally offer less safety features (in particular, side airbags) than their equivalently priced car counterparts, yet these features can provide increased protection in the sorts of crashes where 4WDs are highly vulnerable, such as pole or tree impacts and rollovers.

RACV is calling on car-makers to adopt a policy of fitting safety equipment as standard across their model range, or at a minimum make them available as an affordable, stand-alone option without requiring the buyer to purchase unrelated equipment such as a sun-roof.

what to buy

RACV advises car buyers and fleets to carefully consider the fitment of safety equipment when comparing models. Many buyers view items such as stereos and alloy wheels as a priority, instead of features such as airbags that have proven safety benefits. Buyers must order the fitment of safety equipment when purchasing their vehicle; they cannot be fitted later, and even if this were possible, the wisdom of this is of little use after a crash.

RACV participates in and publishes the results of ANCAP tests. ANCAP compares occupant protection levels for a range of popular new cars, scoring them with between one and five stars. Research performed for ANCAP found that for each extra star a vehicle earns, the risk of fatality to its occupants falls by around 10%.

In the past, purchasing a 'safe' car meant looking at luxury cars. But over the past few years a number of affordable models have begun to appear on the market, offering high levels of occupant protection. For example, in March this year the Subaru Liberty and Outback achieved the maximum five star ANCAP ratings. RACV also applauds Mazda's decision to use safety as a selling point on its models, with the Mazda2 and Mazda6 both recently achieving a four-star ANCAP rating.