Australia is at risk of becoming a dumping ground for vehicles with second-rate safety tech as local laws fall years behind the rest of the world.
The EU’s stricter General Safety Regulation 2 (GSR2) laws — which became mandatory for all new car sales in mid-2024 — now require a raft of high-tech safety features in every vehicle.
Features such as crash data recording “black boxes”, advanced cyclist detection, and intelligent speed alerts are now standard in European cars; however, they are still not legally required in Australia.
ANCAP chief executive Carla Hoorweg warns that Australia’s “weak” vehicle safety standards have created a regulatory gap that allows less-safe cars into the local market.
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“We have been historically quite vocal that the Australian regulatory framework should be looking at the EU and following what’s happening with EU regulations,” Ms Hoorweg said.
“The floor that we’re talking about in Europe is much higher than either Australia or New Zealand from a regulatory perspective.”
To legally sell a car in Australia, a manufacturer only needs to tick the boxes of the Australian Design Rules (ADRs).
And because this legal baseline remains relatively low, Ms Hoorweg believes the current environment is “allowing a lot” of vehicles to completely bypass rigorous, independent safety testing.
While ANCAP pushes manufacturers to achieve five-star ratings, voluntary testing isn’t enough to stop unproven cars from hitting local roads.
One example is BYD’s 2026 Sealion 5 plug-in hybrid family SUV, which voluntarily skipped ANCAP’s safety assessment.
However, even established giants are being caught in the transition.
The country’s most popular SUV, the Toyota RAV4, will see its new-generation model launch in Australia without an ANCAP rating after production delays pushed its arrival into the new 2026 testing window.
While the vehicle was designed to meet 2025 five-star standards, Toyota Australia product planning specialist Peter Phan confirmed that the launch delay means the vehicle now faces a much higher bar.
“The RAV4 that we’re launching is actually the safest we’ve ever developed. With the production delay, we now have to launch in 2026, meaning we need to beat the 2026 ANCAP protocols,” Mr Phan said.
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“There will be enhancements to the passive and active safety systems, but the structural integrity of the vehicle will not change.”
Under the new 2026 scoring system, carmakers will be pushed to ensure critical controls are easier to access and that electrically operated door handles remain functional after an impact, allowing occupants to escape and emergency crews to enter.
Toyota confirmed the RAV4’s 2026 safety upgrades cannot be retrofitted, meaning thousands of early 2026 RAV4 buyers will own a vehicle that remains permanently ‘unrated’ by the safety watchdog.
“We were trying to launch the car last year. This vehicle introduces a lot of dynamic technology, and the final stages took quite a bit to ensure we hit every target,” Toyota Australia vice president of sales and marketing, John Pappas said.
“We’ve communicated with our customers… and through our dealer network that the car is unrated.
“For any of those customers who require a five-star policy like government, we are working with them on scheduling their orders.”
From next year, safety will be judged across four “Stages of Safety”, including Safe Driving, Crash Avoidance, Crash Protection, and Post-Crash.
The new approach is designed to examine the timeline before, during, and after a crash, rather than focusing solely on the point of impact.
One of the biggest flashpoints in the push for tougher regulation is the rise of flush electric door handles and the removal of physical buttons in modern cabins, which has seen immense safety concerns following several fatalities.
According to Ms Hoorweg, the revamped model is intended to better reflect how crashes occur and how technology can help prevent them from happening in the first place.
The new protocols are expected to prompt carmakers to sharpen their focus on smoother driver assistance systems, post-crash response, and designs that make vehicles easier to exit after a serious collision.
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The first crash tests under the updated regime are expected by mid-year.
Each of the four stages will be scored out of 100, with minimum thresholds still applying to determine the overall star rating.
