SAFETY: Euro crash test body pans Chrysler

Date: 02 February 2007   |   Author:

Chrysler has been given a verbal battering by Euro NCAP chairman Claes Tingvall for the Grand Voyager MPV's crash test performance.

The right-hand drive car scored just two stars for adult occupant protection, with NCAP bemoaning an "unacceptably high risk of death of serious injury." That's despite a four-star performance for the left-hand drive car. An all-new Grand Voyager arrives in the UK within 18 months.

Chrysler responded with the statement: "The Chrysler Grand Voyager meets or exceeds all of the regulatory and safety requirements in markets where it is sold both in right- and left-hand drive, and performs well in the many crash tests scenarios. Both models performed equally as well in homologation tests conducted by government agencies."

In a veiled attack on the NCAP system, the statement said: "No single test can predict the overall safety performance of a vehicle."

In other results, the Volvo C30 scored the maximum five stars for adult occupant protection, while the VW Eos cabrio and Chevrolet Captiva 4x4, which will also form the basis for Vauxhall's Antara, both scored four.

All the models above, apart from the Captiva, scored four stars for pedestrian impact, the Chevrolet achieving three, while it and the Eos scored two out of four for pedestrian protection, the Volvo scoring just one and the Voyager again slammed by NCAP for achieving zero stars. "I am continually disappointed by the lack of commitment and effort shown by manufacturers to improving the level of pedestrian protection in their vehicles," said Tingvall.

Subscribe