An ANCAP executive said the peak safety body will reward brands that offer tactile and simple driver controls in new testing to be introduced next year.
Ahead of its more stringent 2026 testing criteria, a key executive from the Australasian New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP) – Australia’s peak safety body for new cars – said it will look to reward car makers who offer physical buttons and stalks for essential driving controls.
The decision stems from concerns over in-vehicle driver distractions, with distracted driving accounting for approximately 16 per cent of road fatalities in Australia, according to the independent safety assessor.
Carla Hoorweg, the Chief Executive Officer of ANCAP, told Drive large touchscreens with convoluted menu systems for basic functions would not be looked favourably upon.
“From next year, the ANCAP safety rating system will encourage manufacturers to provide dedicated physical controls or a fixed section of the display for primary driving functions,” Hoorweg said.
“Our focus on in-car distraction will be further enhanced from 2026 and will include indicators, hazard lights, windscreen wipers, headlights, and the horn. Tactile buttons and/or stalks will be rewarded.
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“Locating key vehicle controls on – or buried within – a touchscreen can add complexity and distraction while driving. If key functions are housed in a touchscreen, they must be large enough and positioned at the first level of screen depth – not hidden in submenus.”
Famously, Tesla’s new Model 3 has ditched the physical indicator stalk in favour of buttons on the steering wheel, while also relegating shifter controls to the central touchscreen. The latest Tesla Model Y update also moves the shifter to the infotainment screen.
ANCAP said this new driving control area will account for five points within the new 2026 “safe driving pillar”, and will be tested on “how easily safety-critical functions can be activated, giving priority to physical or tactile buttons in sensible locations”.
ANCAP’s current assessment criteria for a maximum five-star rating include scoring at least 80 per cent in the adult and child occupant protection tests, as well as 70 per cent or above in the vulnerable road user protection and safety assist assessments, but this could change next year in line with the adoption of the new driving control examination.
A spokesperson for the peak safety body said it is up to the manufacturers to determine if they want to adopt physical buttons and/or stalks, or a “dedicated portion of the [infotainment] screen”, but ANCAP will assess the user complexity.
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This move keeps ANCAP aligned with Euro NCAP, as the European safety body is also set to reward car makers who include tactile and physical controls for essential driving features from next year.
ANCAP already assess the capabilities of a car’s driver monitoring system, which is designed to look for distraction, inattention, and fatigue through a vehicle’s “ability to notify the driver if their eye gaze shifts away from the driving task for a set period”.
As previously reported by Drive, the national safety body is also looking to examine specific safety features and dock points for overzealous alerts.
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The criteria change will see ANCAP assess a car’s occupant monitoring, driver engagement, and low-speed collision avoidance, while it’s also considering an expansion of the driver monitor systems to include alcohol/drug detection and earlier autonomous emergency braking (AEB) intervention.
According to a July 2025 survey conducted by AAMI Insurance – which polled over 2000 Australian drivers – one in five participants admitted to turning off their car’s advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS).
When asked why they turned off these critical safety systems, like lane departure/lane-keeping assist, 69 per cent of respondents said these features were too “annoying, distracting, and too sensitive”.
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