C6 touted as world's safest car

THE safest car in the world? Citroen’s forthcoming C6 luxury sedan last week became Europe's first car to be awarded the maximum four stars for pedestrian protection, which together with five stars for adult occupant protection and four stars for child protection makes it arguably the safest car on the planet.

Perhaps not surprisingly, this is a point being raised by Citroen rather than the independent crash-test authority, however, EuroNCAP chairman Claes Tingvall said: "Citroen’s achievement is particularly clear, coming as it does in the same phase as a car (Jeep’s Grand Cherokee) that has scored no points for pedestrian protection.

"There is no longer any excuse for such neglect." The high pedestrian rating for the C6, which is scheduled to arrive in Australia next year, is largely due to a pop-up bonnet system.

Other results released last week included a five-star adult occupant protection rating for the Peugeot 407 Coupe (based on the same platform as the C6) and four stars for the Mitsubishi Colt, Kia Rio, VW Fox (under consideration for Australia), Mazda6, Citroen Berlingo and the Grand Cherokee.

The Chevrolet Matiz, which is built off the same platform as the GM Daewoo-built Holden Barina, scored a struck-through three-star rating for adult protection.

The strike-through indicates an unacceptably high risk of life-threatening injury in one aspect of the car’s performance, in this case chest protection in a side impact.