Toyota has gotten accustomed to its cars getting a five-star safety rating from the Euro NCAP but very recently, its Urban Cruiser got a three-star rating. Toyota is now disputing the safety organization’s test methods, in particular, on how the model scored just 58% for its Adult Occupant Protection capabilities. Dr Michiel van Ratingen, Euro NCAP’s secretary general, asserted that the result from Toyota is disappointing. Continued after the jump!

He pointedly commented that consumers shouldn’t presume that the car is invariably safe just because of its brand. A Toyota spokesman retorts that the carmaker submitted its Urban Cruiser to rigorous in-house tests, which all indicated that it would get a five-star rating. The spokesman emphasized that Toyota prioritizes the safety of its cars. Inn 2009, all three of its new cars — iQ, Avensis and Prius — received a five-star rating from Euro NCAP.

Toyota has started its own investigation on how the Euro NCAP conducted the test in order to determine the reason for the inconsistencies between Toyota’s assessment and Euro NCAP’s rating. It was also revealed that Toyota, along with other carmakers, is discussing with Euro NCAP certain aspects of their evaluation methodology. The three-star rating for the Urban Cruiser has reportedly stemmed from the results of the “pole side impact” test. During this assessment, the dummy head area deceleration slightly exceeded the demand value of Euro NCAP.

[via autocar]

Tags: car news, Toyota, toyota euroncap tests, toyota news

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 26th, 2009 at 8:00 pm and is filed under 2009, 4wheels News, Automakers, Europe, Toyota, Year, Zone. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.