Mitsubishi Outlander curtain airbags curtailed

Despite including several Australian safety firsts, the new family-oriented seven-seat 2021 Mitsubishi  Outlander that goes on sale November 1 does not include three-row curtain airbags.

Instead, the fourth-generation mid-size SUV’s life-saving curtain airbags stop at row two, just like they do in its predecessor which was launched in 2012.

Mitsubishi makes seven seats standard in all bar the new Outlander ES base model, yet also describes them as occasional.

The seats and space allowed for them clearly reserve row three for children.

“Curtain airbags are first and second row only,” confirmed Mitsubishi Australia product strategy manager Tim Clarke.

“In terms of the occasional use we expect on those plus-two seats, it covers most of the usage of the vehicle.”

The two-row curtain airbag won’t impact on a potential – and highly desirable – five-star ANCAP safety rating for the new Outlander because the third-row seats are stowable.

They are therefore excluded from airbag coverage assessment under the independent safety rating agency’s adult occupant protection protocols, which focuses on the first two fixed rows of seats.

ANCAP testing of the new Outlander has been delayed by COVID, but results are expected within weeks.

“The market research tells us in medium SUVs the third row is a highly valued feature but only occasionally or rarely used,” said Clarke, explaining the new Outlander’s seating design priorities.

“With new Outlander we understood the focus was going to be around the first- or second-row passenger comfort and accommodation.”

Outlander is not the only recent seven-seater to miss out on three-row curtain airbags. The Kia Sorento also falls into that category, as does the related Hyundai Santa Fe.

The new Outlander includes a number of safety firsts for the Mitsubishi brand, including lane departure prevention, driver attention alert and traffic sign recognition.

Other new-for-Outlander features include rear autonomous emergency braking (AEB), hill descent control, trailer stability assist and adaptive driving beam.

It has a centre airbag between the front seats that is deemed essential for a maximum ANCAP rating.

The Outlander’s AEB system operates at up to 144km/h and detects pedestrians day or night and cyclists during the day. 

The lane assist function does not include self-centring active steering assist or automated parking assist.

The new Mitsubishi Outlander is based on the same Nissan-Renault-Mitsubishi Alliance CMF-CD platform as the Nissan X-TRAIL and  Renault Koleos, both of which also lack curtain airbags for their third-row seating.