– By Marc Sibbald –
Recently while researching an article, I came across the ABS statistics on vehicle registrations in Australia. As of January 2019 there were 19,505,241 vehicles registered. This is up from 17,633,493 in 2014. The majority are passenger vehicles (14 million) with an average age of 9.9 years which hasn’t changed much in the last decade.
It got me thinking about how safe cars are today compared to 2003. Back then airbags and ABS were the main safety features. Subarus were considered some of the safest vehicles on the road because of AWD. And local manufacturing was booming.
So I created the table below using the popular and top selling Toyota Corolla to demonstrate how manufacturers are using technology to make vehicles safer by increasing the list of standard safety features in base model vehicles.
The difference between a 2003 model and the latest 2019 model is significant. It highlights how fleets buying new, 5 star ANCAP, vehicles can have an impact on the used car market and improve the safety for all road users.
How old is the car you put your kids in?
| Age | Car Park | Vehicle Safety Features**
(Toyota Corolla) |
Fuel
Consumption |
| before 2003 | 22% | Driver airbag, Seat belt pre-tensioners front | 6.6 L/100km |
| 2004 – 2008 | 22% | Dual front airbags, ABS, Electronic brake force distribution | 7.7 L/100km |
| 2009 – 2013 | 26% | 5 star ANCAP, ABS, Dual front airbags, Side airbags, Driver knee airbag, Traction control | 7.4 L/100km |
| 2014 – 2019 | 30% | 5 star ANCAP, ABS, Dual front airbags, Side airbags, Driver knee airbag, ESC, Traction control, Cruise control | 6.1 L/100km |
|
2019 Corolla |
5 star ANCAP, ABS, Dual front airbags, side airbags, Driver knee airbag, ESC, Traction control, Active cruise control, AEB, Active high beam control, Active cornering enhancement, Bluetooth, Collision warning with auto brake, daytime running lights, Forward collision warning, Lane departure warning, Lane keeping assist, Pedestrian recognition, Reversing camera, Voice recognition system |
6 L/100km |
* * Source was Carsguide website
