VE under the skin: real world not NCAP

Holden finished its engineering presentation for the VE Commodore this week with an even more spectacular impact than the VE's catwalk unveil. For the first time ever, the company conducted a full side impact test in front of assembled media.

It was significant that the "victim" of the crash was an Ignition orange SS V -- indentical to the one that was used to usher in the new VE range barely a week ago. Its destruction was a dramatic and violent contrast that highlighted the passion and division surrounding crash safety in the local industry.

Holden relates its new benchmark crash safety levels in the VE Commodore to the REAL WORLD (Holden's emphasis, not CarPoint's) test environment, as defined by the Monash University Accident Research Centre (MUARC). This is why the curtain airbag system developed from MUARC data has been made available (as an option in some cases) on all VE levels.

It was the same MUARC research that prompted Holden to allocate a significant component of its safety budget to the fitment of ESP to all VE Commodore models. On a $40,000 European import, this feature alone can add $700 to the price.

MUARC generated figures that suggest ESP when set up for local conditions has the potential to reduce serious crashes by 20 per cent. This figure climbs to 50 per cent on wet surfaces.

In an Australian context where sealed roads often end in gravel shoulders and deep gutters, ESP may ultimately prove as important as ABS and airbags.

Yet its standard fitment across the VE range won't give it five stars in an NCAP test.

Unlike the 50th percentile adult that is the focus of other safety systems, Holden has developed its own safety package which, under MUARC findings, needed to cater for everyone from a six-month-old baby to a large 95th percentile male. This means that, for example, the safety of frail elderly passengers under the 50th percentile adult is also an important component of the VE's package.

Holden says such a large spread of 'target' occupants makes it difficult to meet the NCAP five-star rating.

According to Holden, a structure geared around the 50th percentile adult is too soft for a 95th percentile adult male and too stiff for a 5th percentile infant. Holden's crash modeling which determined the dimensions and location of airbags and other safety hardware, took into account the full variation in size and weight defined by these limits.

Holden says it finds fault with elements of the NCAP testing procedure including its focus on offset crash performance and the lack of a full-frontal crash requirement. The company says the VE Commodore's full-frontal crash protection is a real world priority given Australia's narrow rural roads where high-speed head-on collisions are unfortunately not uncommon. These are not such a big factor on divided European roads.

Holden's crash safety expert Kerry Dick told CarPoint that stiffening the structure to achieve a five-star NCAP rating in the offset crash will compromise the car's performance in a head-on collision. According to Dick, Holden has treated all requirements as a total package so that VE Commodore crash safety is not determined by an isolated test of one aspect.

Ms Dick noted that the VE structure performs exceptionally well in full-frontal collisions and reasonably well in offset crashes, such was the emphasis deliberately engineered into the new structure.

A VE Commodore that had been through a severe full-frontal collision was on display at the Long Lang proving ground briefing and the integrity of the passenger compartment was reassuring. Pole tests are also an important Holden crash safety component as well as a brutal 88km/h rear impact test to ensure fuel tank safety.

Holden is confident that the VE shell is stronger than many top shelf luxury Europeans. Yet Holden's own data would suggest that the best the VE can hope for is an NCAP score in the high fours, but definitely not five stars.

Why so definite? To meet five star requirements, the VE Commodore would need curtain airbags as standard and a seat-belt buckle-up warning system for all seating positions.

Holden says VE Commodore's fleet and family car emphasis means the second seemingly simple requirement is not straightforward. To avoid false alarms when something is placed on an unoccupied seating position, such a warning system would need a smart interlock system tied to each seat-belt buckle. The extra wiring would then need to be taken to the front of the vehicle and fed through a processor before activating the alarm. Holden unequivocally believes that this level of expense was far better spent on fitting ESP to all models.

When pressed, Tony Hyde, Holden's Executive Director of Engineering acknowledged that the company was monitoring real world crash safety versus NCAP testing issues.

The latest tendency for arbitrary numbers derived from a single NCAP test to generate a safety ranking which consumers interpret as an indicator of a total safety package was not meant to happen. This was not a healthy development according to Hyde.

Asked if Holden would eventually create a single, if cynical, VE Commodore marketing package that could generate five stars, Hyde reluctantly acknowledged that it was possible Holden could be forced down that track.