Marton Pettendy•28 Feb 2013
NEWS
Five safety stars for LandCruiser, Pajero – but not Tunland
Foton Tunland scores just three stars as LandCruiser and Pajero attract maximum ANCAP safety ratingToyota’s 200 Series LandCruiser and Mitsubishi’s Pajero have been awarded a maximum five-star safety rating from the Australasian New car Assessment Program (ANCAP), in stark contrast to the sub-standard three-star result achieved by Foton’s new Tunland ute.
Unlike many of its rivals, the Chinese 4x4 dual-cab is unavailable with potentially life-saving electronic stability control (ESC) technology, which last year became a prerequisite for a four-star safety rating for all utes under ANCAP’s new 2012 ‘roadmap’.
Despite this, when the Tunland was launched in Australia last November, importer FAA Automotive Australia said it expected a four-star safety rating, before issuing a press release in January – when the Tunland was tested at Sydney’s Crashlab, saying it expected a three-star result.
“The Tunland’s safety rating will be assessed in accordance with ANCAP’s 2012 Road Map,” said FAA Director Daniel Phelan last month. “Accordingly, the Tunland is not eligible to achieve a rating higher than three stars.
“The frontal offset test is the key crash test for a three-star ANCAP safety rating and we expect the Tunland to achieve three out of three stars,” he said.
Mr Phelan was unavailable for comment on the Tunland’s three-star ANCAP safety rating, which was announced today, and Foton is yet to indicate when the Tunland will be available with ESC or side airbags.
However, it points out that all Tunlands come standard with twin front airbags, an anti-lock braking system (ABS), electronic brake-force distribution (EBD), three-point front seatbelts with pretensioners and force-limiters, a driver’s seatbelt reminder, anti-trap power front windows, child safety locks, reversing sensors, daytime running lights and a limited-slip differential.
In addition to these rudimentary safety features, ESC and side airbags are fitted to all Ford Ranger, Mazda BT-50, Volkswagen Amarok, Holden Colorado, Isuzu D-Max, Nissan D40 Navara and selected Toyota HiLux and Mitsubishi Triton models.
ANCAP criticised the Tunland’s lack of ESC and its three-star rating, which falls short of the maximum five-star rating for most Rangers, BT-50s, Amaroks and Colorados, as well as the four-star rating for the HiLux, Navara and Triton, but betters the two-star rating achieved by Great Wall’s V-series utes.
“ESC is a life-saver – particularly in vehicles with a higher centre of gravity. There really is no excuse for a new vehicle coming into the market today to be without ESC, which is now mandatory for passenger cars,” said ANCAP chairman Lauchlan McIntosh.
ANCAP has confirmed to motoring.com.au that the Tunland would not have achieved a four-star rating even if it was fitted with ESC, following a crash test performance that it described as “relatively poor”.
Foton is one of the world’s biggest commercial vehicle manufacturers and said it developed the Tunland primarily for western export markets, including Australia’s booming ute sector.
However, although it improves on Great Wall’s lowly two-star rating, the Tunland is the latest commercial vehicle from the world’s largest automotive industry to fail to attract a four-star ANCAP safety rating.
While Chery’s small J11 SUV and J1 hatchback scored just two and three stars respectively, Great Wall’s Toyota-based X240 SUV has achieved the highest ANCAP rating of any vehicle imported from China, with a four-star result announced last year.
Meantime, all variants of Toyota’s top-selling large SUV now come with the top ANCAP safety rating, following the addition of dual knee airbags as standard across the 200 Series LandCruiser range from 2013.
Knee airbags were previously only fitted to high-grade VX and Sahara variants, which have come with a five-star ANCAP rating since 2007, and their fitment to low-grade GX and GXL variants now lifts their ANCAP rating from four stars to five from this year.
Similarly, MY14 Pajero variants built from April this year (and available here from July) will come with a maximum five-star ANCAP safety rating following safety upgrades to reduce the risk of serious injury to the driver and passenger.
“4x4 buyers are sure to be pleased with the announcement of five-star ANCAP safety ratings for all variants of the Toyota Landcruiser 200 Series and Mitsubishi Pajero models,” said Mr McIntosh.
“These are very popular choices for fleets and families alike and we now know they'll be better protected in these upgraded models.”
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Written byMarton Pettendy
Our team of independent expert car reviewers and journalists
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