Being trapped in the car in a flood is one of the most distressing situations that the occupants of a vehicle can experience. In episodes of heavy rain, when driving through an area where a large amount of water accumulates, for example an underpass, we must exercise extreme caution behind the wheel and drive more diligently if possible.
If the situation poses a danger to road safety and the physical integrity of people, we must stop the car. Even so, there are drivers who do not calculate the risk involved in a situation like this and see how their cars end up being swept away by the flood. In the most extreme cases, the water engulfs the car, which gradually sinks, while its occupants try to escape from it.
Until now, in no country in the world, the organizations in charge of evaluating the safety of new cars, such as the Euro NCAP in Europe or the NHTSA in the United States, had stopped to examine the behavior of cars under water. It is not usual for a car to be submerged, but as we can see in the images published on social networks, there are more and more drivers who risk crossing flooded areas without measuring the consequences that may arise.
Since the beginning of 2023, the body that evaluates the safety of vehicles in Australia, ANCAP (Australian New Car Assessment Program), the equivalent of Euro NCAP in Europe, includes an unprecedented test worldwide. The test consists of examining the safety of passengers in cars underwater by analyzing whether the doors and windows can be opened in these circumstances to escape flooding.
The test is part of the vehicle accessibility criteria after an accident. During the test, the manufacturers must prove that both the doors and the windows can be opened under water for 10 minutes without the electrical power provided by the car battery. In other words, ANCAP evaluates whether the cars have a mechanism that allows the doors to be unlocked so that they can be opened by their occupants, as well as whether they are equipped with a manual device to lower the window panes.
ANCAP also requires manufacturers to include in the user manual information about what to do if all these methods fail. The document must explain how to break the glass if the windows or doors cannot be operated manually or automatically.
Just like Euro NCAP does with new cars on the market in Europe, ANCAP rates car safety on a scale from one to five stars. Passing the underwater passenger safety test is an essential condition to aspire to the highest score. This evaluation is part of the points that are examined under the category Adult Occupant Protection.
The director of ANCAP, Carla Hoorweg, admitted last summer that this evaluation test in cars that has been carried out in Australia since the beginning of 2023 has its origin in the heavy floods that the country experienced last year. “The response after an accident is a critical element to guarantee survival. Security systems require vehicle electronics to remain operational once submerged, so car doors and windows can be opened.”
For now, Euro NCAP does not plan to include the ANCAP test on the operation of windows and handles of submerged cars in its vehicle safety assessment programme. The European agency, however, has admitted that it will study the results of the tests carried out with the vehicles in Australia.
