THE LATEST ROUND of Euro NCAP testing - The European equivalent to Australia’s ANCAP - has seen 10 out of 12 tested cars awarded 5-Star safety ratings.
Of the two that missed out on the full five stars, the Toyota Urban Cruiser received just 3-Stars, with only a 58 percent result in the Adult Occupant Protection category.
The Chevrolet Spark - an ultra-small car expected to wear a Holden badge in 2010 - managed 4-Stars, marked down due to the absence of electronic stability control (ESC).
It may be a different story when the Spark reaches the Australian market. With the Australian Federal Government requiring all new cars sold in Australia to offer ESC as standard by November 2011, a ‘Holden Spark’ equipped with the system would likely achieve a 5-Star ANCAP crash safety rating.
The top scorers included the BMW X1, Chevrolet Cruze, Citroën DS3, Infiniti FX, Mazda 3, Mercedes E-Class, Mercedes GLK, Opel Astra, Peugeot 5008 and the Volkswagen Scirocco.
Dr Michiel van Ratingen, Euro NCAP Secretary General, said the results showed that consumers should never allow brand loyalty to greatly influence their new car purchase.
“Chevrolet has bounced back [from the Aveo/Holden Barina's 1-Star result in 2006] with two cars that have a commendable level of safety performance,” Dr van Ratingen said.
“The result from Toyota is disappointing, but in 2010, we predict further results like these as Euro NCAP’s next stage of the rating scheme kicks in and requirements become even tougher.
“Consumers should check Euro NCAP scores when looking to buy a new car and should not make presumptions about a car’s safety performance due to the brand it carries.”
Toyota has announced that is investigating the Urban Cruiser’s 3-Star result.
“In 2009, we received a 5-Star rating for all three new cars that were evaluated by Euro NCAP (iQ, Avensis and Prius),” a Toyota statement reads.
“We are therefore very surprised that the Urban Cruiser received only a 3-Star rating from Euro NCAP. As with any other Toyota vehicle, we had submitted the Urban Cruiser to rigorous in-house tests, which indicated that it would secure a 5-Star rating.
“We are currently investigating the Euro NCAP result in detail, in order to understand why there is a difference between our Toyota assessment and Euro NCAP’s rating.
“Together with other car makers, we are also discussing with Euro NCAP certain aspects of their evaluation methodology, which might also explain why the rating is lower than we expected.
“We remain fully convinced that Urban Cruiser is a safe car.”
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So urban cruiser gets 3-stars, yet the supposedly inferior KIA Soul can obtain 5-stars.
Hey Martin, Don’t know if you ever watched the Top Gear episode where they looked into this. You can probably find it online if you have a look around. It’s a few years old but they did show that it’s not necessarily more expensive or larger cars which are safer.
Is it any shock that Blowyota released an unsafe car? What is even more galling is their arrogance after they get called out. Engine sludge, runaway cars, now this. Why anyone buys their junk is beyond logical.
Just admit it Toyota your cars are rubbish 3star Hiace
No star no airbag no esp Troopcarrier and now this pile of junk.
Your reputation for quality cars has long since passed maybe a decade ago they were good but not now.
The attitude at Toyota seems to be we know the bogans will just plonk their hard earned coin down on anything with a Toyota badge so who cares about safety or quality .
These crash tests really need to start addressing the issue of compatibility between vehicles. 5 stars in a sedan is all well and good but completely pointless when there are so many SUV & 4×4’s on the road. Most are raised with massive bullbars that would just come in through the window and not even touch a crumple zone. You’ll be decapitated in even a minor low speed accident. My next purchase will be based on the most mass and highest seating position for when THEY hit me. I can control my driving. I hate these things but…. when in Rome.
Even Hyundai i20 (subcompact) earned euroncap 5-stars.
the nissan Navara was 1 star
Great one Rob - Blowyota
I guess they have blown it out their …. for a long time now.
Propped up by company fleets.
Driving dynamics - 0/5.
Styling - 0/5.
Safety - 0/5.
Top marks in worldwide scandal though - 5/5.
Any one want a car with killer car mats?
(So their long time excuse was - as usual when caught out deny deny deny. Lets just hope it really rock bottoms their sales).
I still remember the news story (a couple of years ago now) of the 4 people in the Lexus on the freeway in the US where the car accelerated to over 200kmh where it went off, flipped and killed the 4 occupants. Apparently the death count attributed to this is 54 or so according to some latest US news.
Its now spread to Europe - 1.5 million recalls.
Lets hope car makers get this is basic safety aspect right before sticking them into 5 star ncap cars.
After all the auto industry has had 130 years to get it right!