Nissan Navara fails safety test
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[02/27/2008] ONE of the most popular pick-ups in Australia poses a high risk of life-threatening injury in a crash and has been damned with a rating of less than one star by the international testing body.
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ONE of the most popular pick-ups in Australia poses a high risk of life-threatening injury in a crash and has been damned with a rating of less than one star by the international testing body.
The Nissan Navara results, released yesterday, show that in a frontal collision there is an "unacceptably high" chance of fatal damage to the head and neck, and weak protection for the chest and legs.
"The Navara's passenger compartment became unstable" while "the airbags and seatbelt pre-tensioners were triggered late in the impact", according to the results of a frontal collision at 64km/h conducted by the European New Car Assessment Program, a partner body to Australia's crash-test organisation.
Nissan Australia said the model would remain on sale while the company worked on fixes for its problems.
"It still meets all regulatory obligations required of it," spokesman Jeff Fisher said. "We'll begin contacting customers in March to take Navaras back into dealerships to have an upgrade to the airbag software."
He said the car, the price of which starts at $39,000, would be retested with a "more positive outcome" than the one star with a "strike through", indicating less than one star, that ENCAP gave it.
The Navara is the second-most popular all-wheel-drive pick-up in Australia after the Toyota Hilux. More than 18,000 were bought last year.
In crash tests of light commercial vehicles by the Australian New Car Assessment Program, the Hilux and Mitsubishi Triton scored four stars while the Holden Rodeo received three.
A Mitsubishi Express van without airbags is ANCAP's only one-star result.
Motoring research manager at the NRMA Jack Haley said "you'd need to go back to the mid-90s" for a comparable result and most passenger cars now offered four- or five-star protection.
ANCAP chairman Lachlan McIntosh said the regulations were running behind community expectations, as pick-ups such as the Navara were increasingly used as family transport.
"It's ludicrous that you can sell a vehicle like the Nissan Navara that allegedly makes the Australian design rules when we know they're capable of making much better vehicles," he said.
The Nissan Navara results, released yesterday, show that in a frontal collision there is an "unacceptably high" chance of fatal damage to the head and neck, and weak protection for the chest and legs.
"The Navara's passenger compartment became unstable" while "the airbags and seatbelt pre-tensioners were triggered late in the impact", according to the results of a frontal collision at 64km/h conducted by the European New Car Assessment Program, a partner body to Australia's crash-test organisation.
Nissan Australia said the model would remain on sale while the company worked on fixes for its problems.
"It still meets all regulatory obligations required of it," spokesman Jeff Fisher said. "We'll begin contacting customers in March to take Navaras back into dealerships to have an upgrade to the airbag software."
He said the car, the price of which starts at $39,000, would be retested with a "more positive outcome" than the one star with a "strike through", indicating less than one star, that ENCAP gave it.
The Navara is the second-most popular all-wheel-drive pick-up in Australia after the Toyota Hilux. More than 18,000 were bought last year.
In crash tests of light commercial vehicles by the Australian New Car Assessment Program, the Hilux and Mitsubishi Triton scored four stars while the Holden Rodeo received three.
A Mitsubishi Express van without airbags is ANCAP's only one-star result.
Motoring research manager at the NRMA Jack Haley said "you'd need to go back to the mid-90s" for a comparable result and most passenger cars now offered four- or five-star protection.
ANCAP chairman Lachlan McIntosh said the regulations were running behind community expectations, as pick-ups such as the Navara were increasingly used as family transport.
"It's ludicrous that you can sell a vehicle like the Nissan Navara that allegedly makes the Australian design rules when we know they're capable of making much better vehicles," he said.
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