The head of the Australasian New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP) has challenged government fleets to match their focus on reducing emissions with a commitment to safety.

In Melbourne to announce the FG Falcon's five-star safety rating (more here), ANCAP Chair, Lachlan McIntosh, suggested state and federal government fleets had a responsibility to champion safety as well as environmental issues. He challenged pollies and public service fleet managers to demonstrate this commitment by buying only five-star cars.

"Governments have rightly set an agenda to encourage fuel efficiency and low emissions in new cars. They've set aside considerable funds to support the agenda but road crashes cost Australians about $17 billion a year and we know that safer vehicle save lives and save injuries," McIntosh began.

"The Australian car fleet is aging; we need to encourage drivers not only into cleaner cars, but also into safer cars... The government and ourselves [consumers] can do more by buying safer cars.

"How much would it cost governments to have a purchasing policy to buy just five star cars? That'd be a nice thing for the minister to announce today -- we'll only buy five star cars from next week."

McIntosh, also President of Australasian College of Road Safety, said government could play a key role by setting an example for private purchasers and commercial fleets alike. In addition he called on the Australian government to "encourage" the introduction of safety labelling on new cars.

"It would be nice to see governments collectively -- state and federal -- get into the business of saying we're only going to buy four and five star cars, or even [only] five star cars. There's absolutely no reason now [with Falcon's five-star rating] why they shouldn't make that decision. It's a lot easier than mucking around with ADRs and the [crash safety] results are clearly obvious.

"We've got too much regulation in Australia... It makes it difficult for consumers to understand what's going on, so here is a simple way that governments collectively could change their purchasing policies which would be of great benefit to [a] local manufacturer directly...

"Ford Australia would be the beneficiary of that decision. It would cost the Australian tax payer nothing and we'd all be better off," the ANCAP boss said.

McIntosh said ANCAP had already canvassed a change in fleet policy with government.

"We've got a $500 million green car fund... Here's an initiative that would cost a lot less to make a difference. Let's have a safer car program," he told attendees of the Ford announcement.

A move to a five-star-only government policy is unlikely. It would, however, be a free kick to Ford -- at least in terms of large car purchases. The Falcon's locally produced competitors, Commodore and Aurion, were rated at four stars in ANCAP testing.

Such a decision might also be problematic in segments other than large cars. While governments could purchase small five-star cars from a variety of manufacturers (no small cars are built in Australia), the locally-produced four-star Toyota Camry, a favourite with public service fleets, is the sole locally-built medium segment vehicle.

In the SUV and light commercial segments many popular fleet vehicles are scored at three stars or below.

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