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In the Australasian New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP) results this week, the Toyota Aurion, Toyota Camry and Holden Commodore all received a four-star safety rating, adding to the previously tested four-star performers, the Ford Falcon and Mitsubishi 380.
NRMA Motoring and Services Vehicle Safety Expert, Jack Haley says most of these cars failed to reach a top rating because of the lack of side curtain airbags.
The Toyota Aurion is the only car equipped with side head protection as standard, but Haley says Toyota chose not to proceed with an optional pole test. This meant they were unable to score five stars in the overall testing. The testing involved the top-selling version of each model and Haley says the other large cars offered curtain airbags as an option, but not as a standard feature in the models tested.
“Obviously our aim is to get all cars up to a five-star safety rating,” Haley says. “We'd like to see curtain airbags in all vehicles and we would also like to see stability control as standard.”
The Toyota Aurion and Holden Commodore have stability control as standard, but it is only an option in various other family cars. But Haley says stability control didn't contribute to the ANCAP testing, as the results show how a car performs in a crash, whereas stability control is an active accident-prevention device.
Each car underwent three main areas of testing under ANCAP.
They included frontal, side impact and pedestrian tests.
Many Japanese and European cars have already received a five-star rating in the European version of testing, known as the EuroNCAP.
They include the Toyota Corolla, Peugeot 207, Ford Focus XR5, Land Rover Freelander 2, Citroen Picasso, Mitsubishi Outlander, Volvo C30, VW Passat and Mini Cooper.
Most of these models were tested as top-of-the-range, whereas in Australia the extra airbags are optional on some models. ANCAP advises motorists to buy vehicles with a full six-airbag package, including side head protection and electronic stability control.
The Toyota Tarago and Mitsubishi Triton also scored a four-star rating in the recent testing, an improvement for the Triton, which is up from a previously low two-star rating.
The Hyundai Accent scored three stars and the Mitsubishi Express van scored poorly with just one star.
STAR RATINGS
Toyota Aurion | 4 stars (out of 5) |
Toyota Camry | 4 stars |
Holden Commodore: | 4 stars |
Toyota Tarago: | 4 stars |
Mitsubishi Triton: | 4 stars |
Hyundai Accent: | 3 stars |
Mitsubishi Express: | 1 star |
Source: ANCAP 2007
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