I have looked for the safety information about Land Cruiser at the site of the most influential European car safety testing/rating organization - Euro NCAP.
You know what I found? Nothing. Check it yourself and see the result:
Why Land Cruiser is not there, neither LC Prado, nor LC 200 (V8)?
Well.. You can see how these guys (Euro NCAP) select the cars to test. They say that they select from the cars that seem most important for the market. Maybe Land Cruiser is not that important? OK.. But also they say:
"Cars can also be sponsored by the vehicle manufacturers. Some sponsor most of their models, others very few. The process for selecting the test variant and its safety equipment is exactly the same as for member-sponsored cars, and the same methods for ensuring random selection are used in both cases."
So Toyota doesn't want to pay for this, or what?
It's not that important for such a car? Then why VW Touareg, Land Rover Discovery and Range Rover, Nissan Pathfinder, Jeep Grand Cherokee, Volvo XC90, BMW X3 and X5 and other cars like these are there?
It's tested in Australia though:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.ancap.com.au/results/153/
http://www.ancap.com.au/results/150/
There is a warning on the driver sunvisor about the high centre of gravity.
To be completely fair, this is a large vehicle and although most of them are driven around cities and never see a dirt road in their lives, the car is really designed to drive in difficult terrain that requires 4WD and occasional low range crawling over difficult obstacles.
These cars do not belong in the city, and like all large vehicles, they are a hazard to other road users in the city.
If you want a safe car for the city, buy a nice VW, Merc or Volvo...
I looked at the tests by ANCAP, and I can see that the guys haven't even conducted "side impact test" on it, and no rollover test also. Ofcourse this doesn't explain why LC has no Euro NCAP or IIHS ratings.
ReplyDelete>> if you want a safe car for the city, buy a nice VW, Merc or Volvo...
:))
LC (Prado) is for the city. Just look around if you live in a city :) you'll see a whole lot of LCs with leather-covered interiors. Toyota just has to make it safe in a city.
Oh yeaahh LC is known for its high gravity center, so why Toyota doesn't secure it with rollover curtains? :)
IMO, HIGH GRAVITY CENTER DOESN'T EXCUSE POOR PASSIVE ROLLOVER SAFETY, IT JUST MAKES IT UNACCEPTABLE.
Agree. Obviously, Land Cruisers are driven 90% of the time on highways and in cities. Even by those who bought them for their off-road qualities.
ReplyDeleteToyota also doesn't say "It is off-road vehicle only", right? :)
It is a SUV and it just must be safe on-road. And rollover is one of the main risks for SUVs (please see NHTSA information about this at www.safercar.gov They also say "Rollovers are dangerous incidents that have a higher fatality rate than other types of crashes.")