Australia’s love affair with big utes does not mean a compromise on crash safety, according to the latest evaluations from the lead safety assessor.
Big utes that have dominated new vehicle sales in the first half of 2025 have in most cases scored the top five-star safety rating from ANCAP, with ten of eleven notching the top result.
This includes the new Chinese model from BYD, the Shark that has had a meteoric rise in sales in 2025, the ever-popular Ford Ranger and Toyota Hi-Lux.
Kia’s Tasman dual cab utility is the latest 2025 model to join the five-star club
The first ute for Kia, the Tasman has delivered strong safety outcomes across all four key areas of assessment: Adult Occupant Protection, Child Occupant Protection, Vulnerable Road User Protection, and Safety Assist.
New car sales data published by the Federal Chamber of Automotive Industries (FCAI) for the month of June 2025 revealed four of the top five selling vehicles sold in Australia were dual-cab utilities, with light commercial vehicles accounting for more than one in four new vehicles sold.
Strong focus
The four top-selling utes – Ford Ranger, Toyota Hilux, Isuzu D-Max and BYD Shark 6 – all hold five-star ANCAP safety ratings.
ANCAP Chief Executive Officer, Carla Hoorweg says it is pleasing to see manufacturers continued to prioritise safety in the ute market.
“The popularity of utes among consumers continues to rise, “ she says.”
“Given their time spent on the road both as commercial workhorses and family transport, it is important that models in this high-volume segment offer robust levels of safety,”
TasTas
Tasman score
ANCAP noted Kia Tasman performed well across the range of crash protection and collision avoidance tests. Notable high scores, denoting low risk of injury, were recorded for each of the adult and child dummy occupants in the frontal offset crash test. Equally impressive was the moderately low crash compatibility risk. This assessment evaluates the risk the test vehicle poses to potential crash partner vehicles and their occupants. For a vehicle of its size and mass, the Tasman performed very well.
A concern was noted in the full-width frontal crash test where the pelvis of the driver.
Several models remain unrated and the Jeep Gladiator is the only one of the group that scored a three star ANCAP rating.
For more ANCAP safety ratings go to ANCAP