The safety of pickup trucks is not a high priority for some automakers, crash testing organisation Euro NCAP said on Tuesday.
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It was commenting on the results for the first three vehicles of this type it has tested: the Nissan Navara, Isuzu D-MAX/Rodeo and the Mitsubishi L200.
The L200 was the best of the trio, achieving what Euro NCAP called a “respectable four star result” for adult occupant protection. All three received “disappointing” child and pedestrian protection scores, it added. Both the Navara and the D-MAX/Rodeo received poor adult occupant ratings.
“This confirms Euro NCAP’s belief that car manufacturers need to boost their efforts in safety testing across their ranges before cars reach production,” the organisation said in a statement.
“The Navara achieved an extremely poor rating of a one star strike-through. Nissan consequently has now announced a service campaign with the intention of improving the airbag software of every Navara on the road since the start of production. Euro NCAP is currently assessing the modified car and will release the result as soon as possible.”
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By GlobalDataIn a statement, Nissan said it was “clearly disappointed with the results of the latest Euro NCAP crash test, where the score for the [model year 2008 Navara] was compromised by the delayed deployment of the airbags.
“Nissan is also disappointed that Euro NCAP has not published the results of the re-test of Navara, equipped with upgraded airbag control unit software.
“[We] would like to emphasise that the airbag issue applies to a limited number of [2008 model year] Navaras that were produced between May and December 2007. There is no issue with the airbag control unit on [vehicles] produced from launch in 2005 until May 2007.
Nissan said it had updated the airbag software with effect from December 2007 production and launched a parallel ‘service campaign’ where owners of ‘08 models were invited to have their dealer update the airbag control settings. This was subsequently extended to owners of all current generation models built since the launch in 2005.
“Nissan is eager for Euro NCAP’s confirmation that the modifications have fully resolved the airbag deployment issue and is confident that it will achieve a competitive score,” the automaker said.
Euro NCAP said the Isuzu D-MAX/Rodeo also received “a disappointing two star strike-through rating in adult occupant protection with an unacceptably high risk of life-threatening injury to the chest region”.
It added that it is concerned about the safety of pick-ups. Secretary general Michiel van Ratingen said: “Euro NCAP must act as a guardian of car safety for consumers – testing these vehicles becomes imperative when we realise they are no longer simply being used for the carriage of goods. Manufacturers must realise we will test all cars that could have an impact on the safety of European consumers.”
Euro NCAP has also released results for the Suzuki Splash [also sold as the Vauxhall/Opel Agila], Daihatsu Terios, Renault Kangoo, Citroën C5 and the BMW X3.
Of these, only the Citroën C5 received five stars for adult occupant protection with Euro NCAP noting that, unlike the previous C5, the seat belt reminder system does not meet its requirements for the front passenger seat.
“With the ground-breaking technology for pedestrian protection that Citroen introduced with the C6, it was disappointing to see that the C5 only received two stars,” the organisation said.
