news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7264155.stm
No wonder there are some good deals around on these at the moment....
MVP
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It certainly doesn't look that flimsy!
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The BBC lunchtime news on News 24 commented that some small cars are now achieving max 5 starts in EuroNCAP and this doesn't. They do not understand that vehicles in different classes cannot be compared - an NCAP 4 Mondeo size car is not less safe than an NCAP 5 Super-Mini.
Not saying that there isn't an issue with some 2008 Navarra's and Nissan is sorting it. Anyone remember when Mitsubishi was seen as a really reliable marque when in fact they were hiding problems and finally got caught out.
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Are you sure they can't be compared. I was under the impression it was a simple case of points being deducted for every injury to two dummies, and these injuries were graded in 3 catergories.
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And HJ is advertising them as Deal of the Week..... trying to tell us something, HJ?! ;-)
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Careful on the sentiment, chaps.
The issue here, as Euro NCAP has explained, is that these were essentially commercial vehicles adapted for what amounts to everyday family car use. Only it looks like they weren't adapted enough.
The question is why a commercial vehicle would appear to have lower safety ratings than a family vehicle, and why crash safety standards in some markets (where the pick-up trend began) appear to be different to others.
Not an easy corner for Nissan (and Isuzu) to work their way out of.
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My Suzuki Carry van is much the same - it may have an airbag but its an airbog attached to a tin foil van - a 5 mph bump up the back cost £2300 as it was just not designed to crumple.
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"Are you sure they can't be compared"
EuroNCAP ratings across car categories cannot be compared unfortunately. I am sure of this.
I am not defending the Navara which is lacking mind. But a 4* BMW 5 Series is not worse than a 5* super-mini.
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Yes, and some of the cars that are achieving 5 stars, do so because an alarm goes BONG to warn the driver that the seat belt is not on.
Put me in a that Navara and I'll happily crash into someones Fiesta. However, I may not be so keen to crash into an X5.
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I witnessed a Mitsubish 4x4 pick-up (57 reg) loose control on a roundabout and hit a lampost. I was amazed at (a) the very poor roadholding of the vehicle, and (b) the amount of damage caused by a relatively low speed impact. The cab was all distorted. A Fiesta wouldn't have done any worse. My guess is that these have been classified as commercial vehicles and simply not designed with regard to safety and NCAP tests.
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As other posters have rightly pointed out, these are commercial vehicles whose basic chassis design is the same as my old 1963 GMC. That thing handles like a half-inflated airbed when it's empty, much better (we're talking relatively here!) with a load on. This is why the average modern pick-up comes to grief IMO; people try to drive them like a saloon car when they're simply not designed to do it.
Compare this to a modern Transit or similar, which is specifically designed to be driven by people who are used to driving cars. The end result is predictable.
As for the damage; simple laws of physics apply. Light modern car with inbuilt crumple zones hits solid object, less damage to car; heavy truck based on 1960's tank hits same, write-off.
Having said that I rather fancy that anything bouncing off this will come off worse!
i75.photobucket.com/albums/i317/gnastygnome/Truck%...g
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I witnessed a Mitsubish 4x4 pick-up (57 reg) loose control on a roundabout and hit a lampost. >>
We saw a similar incident with one of these a couple of weeks ago ..... yours wasn't in Bury St Edmunds, was it? It demolished a road sign and looked in a pretty damaged state itself. I suspect that they are designed this way in order that the numpties who drive them are swiftly removed from the gene pool.
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We saw a similar incident with one of these a couple of weeks ago ..... yours wasn't in Bury St Edmunds was it? It demolished a road sign and looked in a pretty damaged state itself.
No, mine was in Leicestershire. To be fair the roundabout was a bit greasy, but the back end seemed to loose grip very easily and then the whole thing just went sideways and off onto the grass and struck the lamppost. The cab was badly twisted (VERY badly considering the relatively low speed of the impact) but the driver was ok and climbed out through a window.
In 2004 my wife and I saw another incident involving a 4x4. This was on the A46 near Coventry (TGI Fridays roundabout). A 4x4 was a bit late in slowing as he came up to the roundabout and the front overshot the give way line and was just clipped by a big truck. The 4x4 flipped clean over onto its roof. Absolutely amazing to see, it just didn't look 'real'. It brought home to me that these vehicles are not as safe as many people claim.
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The strength of one of these will be in the chassis I'm guessing. But you then gets lots of damage to the bodywork which is dangerous and could easily write off a vehicle.
Having said that, my brother once had a low speed bump (head on across part of the front) in a Mk III Golf - the front of his car and the other one were very badly damaged to look at. That's crumple zones for you. People assumed they were going much faster but it was the company car park!
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The trouble is that dafties assume that 4-wheel drive means that these things will be fine in slippery road conditions when, in fact, they are lethal because of their lightweight back ends. Some years a go, a young lady borrowed the work's Toyota Hilux and came to grief on a slushy road because she hadn't taken this into account.
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Back in around 95 drove a Transit for the first time - had to collect some stuff for work. Going one way empty and found breaks so good (compared to a ten year old fiesta especially!) I alarmed myself when the light back-end (rear-wheel drive) started to kick out. Coming back fully loaded it was much better and predictable.
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Most of the US built ones are basically exempt from any kind of car designed statutory controls - eg fuel consumption. And because they are ladder frame and cart springs, cheap to make.
The fact that they are very popular in the US, have appalling economy and are huge accounts in large for the disastrous state of the US big 3 car makers. I believe the Ford pick up was Ford US's largest seller...
Rising fuel bills - oil now over $100 - should logically mean their demise.
Since when were humans logical?
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