Zeta Commodore safety test

[jpd80]

NCAP crash test: Holden Commodore

 

Commodore safety test

 

Courtesy of the Sydney Morning Herald

 

Joshua Dowling, Motoring Editor

June 12, 2007

 

Despite a $1 billion development budget - the most of any locally-made car - the new Holden Commodore has the same safety rating as a five-year-old Ford Falcon.

That's the verdict according to the independent crash-test body, the Australian New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP), which is funded by motoring authorities in each state and territory in Australia.

 

In the latest round of tests, whose results are announced today, the Toyota Aurion V6 scored 30 out of a possible 37 points, the equivalent of a "high'' four-star rating, whereas Australia's biggest-selling car, the Commodore, scored 27 out of 37, the equivalent of a "mid'' four-star rating and the same as a 2002 Ford Falcon.

 

Holden is not upset by the result, having predicted the outcome after simulating the ANCAP test last year.

 

"We're very happy with the Commodore's performance in a real-world crash,'' Holden's chief engineer Tony Hyde told the Herald. "We knew our car would score four stars in an ANCAP test [but] we design our cars for the real world, not just one test.''

 

In the ANCAP tests the Commodore lost points for injuries to the chest, knees and lower legs.

 

Mr Hyde said Holden had done 80 crash tests and 5000 computer simulations when developing the new Commodore.

 

"Monash University has also analysed some real world crashes, and the reports came back very positive,'' he said. "Accidents don't always happen at ANCAP speeds, they occur more often at lower speeds.''

 

The ANCAP figures show Australian-made cars still lag behind the global benchmark of five stars, despite two all-new models (the Commodore and Aurion) going on sale in the past year. In Europe, car makers regularly achieve five-star ratings.

 

"There is room for improvement,'' the NRMA's safety expert Jack Haley said. "We were hoping for a five-star car to emerge from this round of testing but we're not there yet.''

 

A four-star score is still regarded as good, he said, and it is the minimum rating that ANCAP recommends, but "we expected five stars and we'd like to see a locally-made vehicle get there soon''.

 

"We believe market pressure is already persuading car makers to improve the safety rating of their vehicles,'' Mr Haley said. Star ratings for more than 100 new cars are available online.

 

ANCAP tests between six and 10 cars locally each year but the majority of testing is done by its affiliate NCAP in Europe, where cars are judged to the same criteria.

 

The test includes a frontal crash at 64kmh and a side impact at 50kmh. In Australia, the cars are paid for and selected by ANCAP from a random sample to ensure they are indicative of customer cars.

 

A further "pole test'' (to simulate a car striking a power pole or a tree side-on) can contribute to a vehicle's star rating, but the cost of the test must be funded by car makers. The pole test occurs at a modest 29kmh, but analysis has shown that without curtain airbags a fatal head injury is certain.

 

The Toyota Aurion, which comes standard with curtain airbags, got "within a whisker'' of a five-star rating, Mr Haley said, but did not because ANCAP hasn't yet conducted a pole test.

 

"A new Corolla equipped with curtain airbags is a five-star car, so we're hopeful the Aurion has a five-star rating once the pole test has been conducted,'' Mr Haley said.

 

 

Zeta Commodore has got nothing on the five year old Ford Falcon.

Commodore pays the price for not having side airbags standard on the base Omega.

Pontiac G8 gets curtain airbags to reach 5 stars, could Orion Falcon have these as standard?

Now I know our ANCAP tests are different to North American tests

but the Camry and Aurion (V6 Camry) should help you sense where things are.

 

All Aussie built cars got a 4-star rating:

06 Aurion: 30.03 out of 37

05 380: 28.09 out of 37 (Localised Mitsubishi Galant)

06 Camry Altise: 27.53 out of 37

06 VE: 27.45 out of 37

02 BA: 27.27 out of 34

 

From a Ford AUS insider:

There are basically 2 main tests.. the frontal offset (16 points) and side impact test (16 points). These have essentially remained unchanged and when compared in isolation between cars, is fine as long as you are comparing similar sized cars.

 

There have been changed to ANCAP in the time period yo mentioned, but mainly to the scoring system. They now 'balance' the overall score using a rounding method.

 

If you refer to the ANCAP website, it should explain it, it can get a bit technical and confusing, but to stay on topic and in relation to VE and 2002 BA Falcon, if we're talking about frontal offset crash and side impact, then the BA is impressive.

Edited June 12, 2007 by jpd80

[LincolnFan]

Holes, Oil Leaks, Dents, and Engine Noise.

 

What does that spell? Holden.

[MGallun]

Holes, Oil Leaks, Dents, and Engine Noise.

 

What does that spell? Holden.

 

 

or pontiac GTO or G8.. buhahahahaha.

[jpd80]

The bit I like is Holden are too cheap to put curtain airbags on their base model so they get the same rating as a five year old Falcon design. You can bet Orion Falcon will have them across the board to secure that 5 star rating.

 

LincolnFan,

I thought you might get a kick outa watching a Holden crash.

Edited June 12, 2007 by jpd80

[Paul Selby]

The bit I like is Holden are too cheap to put curtain airbags on their base model so they get the same rating as a five year old Falcon design. You can bet Orion Falcon will have them across the board to secure that 5 star rating.

 

LincolnFan,

I thought you might get a kick outa watching a Holden crash.

 

jpd80,

 

I own an '06 GTO that has been outstand but I've never seen paint on a car chip so damn easily. I have heard other GTO owners complain about the same thing. The paint looks good but seems very, very thin. Is this a known problem with Holdens? Thanks.

[jpd80]

jpd80,

 

I own an '06 GTO that has been outstand but I've never seen paint on a car chip so damn easily. I have heard other GTO owners complain about the same thing. The paint looks good but seems very, very thin. Is this a known problem with Holdens? Thanks.

 

We do get the cursed stone chips over here but think it's our roads mostly. You could be right about paint systems, the paint on my wife's 2000VX SS Commodore's paint seems a little soft, very easy to pick up parking lot chips and scrapes. Where it's been repainted, it seems more durable/resistant to chipping.

 

I have a spray painter friend who tells me in the recent past, most AUS Ford/Holden factory paint consists of one heavy top coat which can sometimes have that awful orange peel. Painters used to excel themselves matching factory orange peel! This topic might have been covered on ls1.com.au, the Holden guys there are pretty knowledgable and can help, especially if you're sourcing go fast parts.

 

FoA changed to water based paint systems a few years back, their paint doesn't seem as soft.

 

John

[Sixt9coug]

alot of guys have reservations here in the states about waterborne paint systems. ive sprayed a fair amount of it lately and it kicks ass. i prefer it to solvent now as a matter of fact. here in SoCal, we are lowering VOC limits in '09, and the best way to meet them is waterborne basecoat. All of Canada is going waterborne in '09 as well for base, so they have alot of work for them ahead. the main problem will be abuse of the product as people try to rush things, but they will have to learn to use the new products properly. when used properly, the stuff rocks.

 

All i have to say is before you know it, the rest of the country will probably follow suit too. itll just take time seeing as even though we are still using solvent systems right now, we still use lower VOC products than the rest of the nation here. even Europe has higher limits even though they have been using waterborne for years.

 

the paint world is strange.