China's crash-test flunky

funnybird

Barry Park  October 21, 2010 - 1:21PM

A Chinese car has achieved the dubious distinction of receiving no stars out of five in independent crash tests.

Geely, the Chinese car maker that recently bought safety pioneer Volvo, still has a lot to learn about crash protection: one of its cars has just been awarded the lowest possible score in a South American crash test.

Latin NCAP, the recently launched South American version of Europe's New Car Assessment Program and similar to the Australian one that rates cars according to their crashworthiness, gave the Geely CK compact sedan no stars out of a possible five.

Geely plans to launch on the Australian market soon, although it is expected that the brand will put more emphasis on safety here than in developing markets, where protective measures are often stripped out to make vehicles more affordable.

Latin NCAP found the Geely CK offered poor protection to most parts of the driver's body, while chest protection was rated as weak.

It noted that although the test car had a switch to deactivate the front passenger seat airbag, the car sold in the South American markets was not fitted with them - not that they would have helped.

''Probably any airbags in this car would not improve the weak body shell integrity,'' the report of the crash test reads.

Latin NCAP also criticised the presence of an airbag switch in the CK, which it said could ''mislead consumers to think that they have an airbag-equipped car''.

The embarrassing result will have produced furrowed brows at Volvo, which has built up an enviable reputation for safety excellence over several decades.

According to the NCAP report, a significant amount of body shell collapse resulted in the windscreen pillar, steering column and pedals moving a long way from their original position.

''The body shell was not capable of withstanding any further loading,'' it said.

The car was crashed into an offset barrier at 64km/h, replicating a common type of collision when a vehicle either wanders into a lane of oncoming traffic or turns in front of an approaching vehicle.

Other results released by Latin NCAP highlight the dubious industry practice of stripping safety items out of cars to make them more attractive in developing countries.

The Peugeot 207, a five-star car in Australia, received just two stars in the Latin NCAP tests, while the Toyota Corolla and the Volkswagen Golf both dropped from five stars to three.

Car makers are often criticised for ignoring safety when packaging vehicles for poorer countries, which often have a much higher road death rate than more developed countries.

Geely will soon launch two models in Australia, initially through a West Australian-based importer that plans to gradually introduce the brand to the eastern seaboard once it becomes more established. It is expected to initially launch the brand with a small sedan known as the MK, and a version of the Panda city car, which last year received a five-star crash result in China's NCAP program.

The MK is available with passenger and driver front airbags, but no potentially lifesaving stability control that can help it recover from a skid, while the Panda has front, side thorax and curtain airbags, as well as stability control.

Great Wall Motors -- the only Chinese brand currently on sale in Australia -- recently achieved a four-star rating for its X240 soft-roader, despite being fitted with only two front airbags and no electronic stability control.

(Source: http://theage.drive.com.au/motor-news/chinas-crashtest-flunky-20101021-16v6c.html?autostart=1)

pinxinge

So, what about other cars(Nissan, Toyota, Ford) made in China? They all got 5-star in China's NCAP.