Renault defends four-airbag Captur

Renault has blamed financial limitations and the prioritising of a five-star NCAP safety score for not making its new Captur small crossover available with curtain or rear-side airbags.

Instead, the Captur is launching globally – including in Australia in the first half of 2014 – with only four airbags; dual front, front-side head and thorax airbags.

The four-airbag limit is also imposed on Renault’s fourth-generation Clio super-mini, on which the Captur is based and which launches in Australia in August. In that case it was argued the rear ’bags weren’t vital because passengers rarely travelled in the rear seats.

However, that argument applies to the Captur less successfully, as it is being pitched as a car for young families as well as ‘downsizers’ from larger cars.

The lack of rear airbags is significant in Australia where they have long been touted to new-car buyers as a fundamental passive safety aid and promoted as such in TV advertising campaigns. Six-airbag models are now common in the Australian new-car market.

Captur Program Manager Christoph Pejout said adding rear airbags would “probably” make the Captur safer, although Renault believes it will snare a maximum five-star score from Euro NCAP anyway, just as the new Clio already has.

“Of course it is always a money issue, because you can put all possible safety features but how do you make priorities?” Pejout told motoring.com.au.

“We put money where it is most efficient from a safety point of view.”

Pejout said the priority had been to maximise the Captur’s score in the independent European New Car Assessment Program (Euro NCAP) rating. Euro NCAP is the oldest member of a global network of NCAPs, including the Australian-based Australasian NCAP.

On its website in an explanatory section about airbags, ANCAP notes: “When deployed in a crash, airbags significantly reduce the chance of death or serious injury. Consumers should look for Front, Side, Curtain and Knee airbags for maximum safety; all features in ANCAP five-star rated vehicles.”

It is common – but not a given - for ANCAP to adopt Euro NCAP results for cars it does not crash-test itself. The Clio and Captur will most likely be assessed for an ANCAP rating based on their Euro NCAP results.

The absence of curtain or rear side airbags does not mean a car is prohibited from scoring five ANCAP stars. However, that is scheduled to become the rule in 2014, meaning the Captur could be judged only a four-star car in Australia.

“More and more people know what Euro NCAP means and rely on it, so it is important for us to have a good rating with Euro NCAP,” Pejout explained.

“The way they make their rating reflects the safety priorities. The protection of the front passenger and driver has much more weight than the rear passengers because the occupation rate of the rear seats is very low.”

Pejout said that a current emphasis of Euro NCAP is pedestrian protection and Renault’s decision on safety investment had been made to make sure the Captur excelled in this area to ensure its five-star rating.

“Pedestrian safety is important also, especially in growing markets like China and India where the majority of dead people are pedestrians,” Pejout said.

Pejout confirmed Renault had studied installing curtain airbags in the Captur and Clio but found headroom would be reduced and the overhead grab-handles would have to be removed.

He also pointed out the ultra-high strength steel fitted to the B-pillar of the Captur and Clio as safety measures designed to protect rear-seat passengers in side impacts.

Peujot claimed modern stability control systems fitted to the Captur also reduced side impacts because “cars don’t wrap themselves around trees any more”.

However, that ignores the fact that the majority of side impact crashes are vehicle-to-vehicle in intersections, where stability control plays no role.