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NEWS
No autonomous braking for five-star Qashqai
ANCAP slates Nissan for dropping active safety device in new softroad SUVUpdate, July 14: Nissan Australia has issued a statement in response to the ANCAP press release from this morning. The statement is as follows:
The latest round of crash testing by safety authority ANCAP (Australasian New Car Assessment Programme) has produced mixed results from the three cars tested – Mercedes-Benz C-Class, Nissan Qashqai and SsangYong Stavic.
While the German prestige sedan and the replacement for the Nissan Dualis achieved five-star ratings, the SsangYong only scored four. That was actually the good news, according to ANCAP. The safety testing organisation described the result for SsangYong's people mover as "mediocre," but reserved stronger criticism for the Nissan.
Despite the Qashqai posting five stars for crash safety – the maximum star rating possible – ANCAP chairman Lauchlan McIntosh got straight to the point in observing that the new Nissan is available with autonomous emergency braking (AEB) in Europe, but won't offer that life-saving technology in Australia.
"Autonomous Emergency Braking (AEB) is available on the European-sold Qashqai yet it is not available at all on Australian and New Zealand models. It is astounding to see yet another mainstream manufacturer despecify their models for our local market," McIntosh was quoted saying in a press release.
"AEB is a proven life-saver and all manufacturers should be doing their utmost to bring this technology to the market today. The lack of AEB cannot be a matter of cost as it is available on other inexpensive cars.
"Are lives in Australia and New Zealand worth less than those in Europe?"
In contrast, the C-Class comes with AEB standard across the range, but that's a range of higher-priced prestige sedans in a completely different segment. No other model in the Qashqai's segment offers AEB either.
The Qashqai has officially gone on sale today, priced from $25,850. Pricing and specification for the Qashqai were announced late last month.
The Stavic's result naturally drew fire from ANCAP too.
"A number of factors limited the Stavic to four stars, including its average performance in the frontal offset crash test and the lack of head-protecting side curtain airbags," said McIntosh.
According to the ANCAP evaluation of the people mover, the driver is placed at risk of injuries to the chest and lower extremities. Additionally, the A pillars are too weak near the base and brake pedal movement was "excessive."
Of the three cars rated by ANCAP, only the Stavic was tested here. ANCAP has extrapolated the five-star ratings for C-Class and Qashqai from crash data supplied by Euro NCAP.
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