Mitsubishi Triton safer, but won't get five stars

There's good news and bad news about the updated Mitsubishi Triton's new safety features.

The Triton deserves accolades as the first body-on-frame utility on sale in Australia to be available with stability control and side curtain airbags.

But these features are only standard on one of nine models -- the most expensive variant which costs about $50,000.

And four of the nine models aren't able to be equipped with these potentially-life saving features.

Further, stability control (which can prevent a skid and is regarded as the biggest safety invention since the seatbelt) is available on all diesel Tritons, but not yet on the petrol models.

When asked why the whole range didn't benefit from what Mitsubishi called a "significant safety upgrade for the utility class", the boss of Mitsubishi Australia, Robert McEniry, said: "It comes down to demand. As we see demand increase we'll start putting these features in more models. It's optional to start with and then we'll make it standard as demand increases."

He said Australia's Occupational Health and Safety regulations helped expedite the introduction of the technology.

"OH&S is becoming a bigger issue every day for fleet buyers and so you need to have as many safety features as possible," he said. "We are the first in the market among our direct competitors to have this technology and we pushed very hard to bring it forward."

Even before the model year 2010 update, the Triton was already one of Australia's safest body-on-frame utilities, being one of only two with a four-star rating for crash protection. The other is the Toyota Hilux.

It's worth noting here, although they've not yet been tested, the car-derived Ford Falcon and Holden Commodore utilities when equipped with side or curtain airbags would likely score five stars judging by the scores of their sedan counterparts.

However, even with the extra safety equipment, the Triton would not score enough points to earn a five-star rating by ANCAP.

In pre-update guise the Triton recorded a score of 25.08 out of 37, but it needs a score of at least 30 out of 37 to be eligible for five stars.

The Triton would likely earn two extra points in a pole test because of its side airbags, but this would still leave it shy of the five-star threshold.

McEniry said Mitsubishi willingly made the improvements to the Triton even though the vehicle wouldn't get any recognition for it from ANCAP, the Australian New Car Assessment Program.

"We're doing what's best for our customers, and clearly a vehicle with side airbags is safer than one without, regardless of what [ANCAP] points are awarded," he said. "We're trying to get some leadership in safety and we're doing what we can within the constraints of the demands on the company's engineering resources. We'd like everything, but we have to prioritise."

Mitsubishi also made a point of the importance of safety when it revealed its updated Outlander compact softroader this week.

However, the base model LX Outlander does not have side or curtain airbags as standard -- they're an $850 option even though its main rivals, the Subaru Forester and Nissan X-Trail, are equipped with these features as standard.

And this, despite the fact that the base model Outlander is dearer than both these rivals.

When the Carsales Network asked why, McEniry said candidly: "You got me. I will look into it. I will review it."

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