Australia slams poor Latin American crash standards

LATIN Americans, it seems, are a lot less important to car-makers than you and me. That’s the message coming out of the latest round of crash tests from the Australian safety watchdog’s Latino cousin.

Suzuki’s Alto, a Chevrolet-badged city car based on an old version of Holden’s Barina, Renault’s Clio and a Nissan compact sedan all have received a zero-star rating – the lowest score possible – in the latest Latin New Car Assessment Program that rates vehicles for their crash safety.

The Latin American vehicle safety group’s Australian counterpart wasted little time before weighing in on the result.

“"These zero-star-rated cars are built by companies that produce good, safe, five-star cars at affordable prices for buyers in other parts of the world,” Australasian New Car Assessment Program chairman Lauchlan McIntosh said in a statement today.

“It is astonishing that these big name manufacturers are prepared to build and sell cars in this region which fail to meet even basic global safety standards.

“It is as if lives in Latin America are worth less than lives in other parts of the world," he said.

Australia has never had a zero-star car on sale, although a couple of vehicles – the now-defunct Mitsubishi Express trade van and the Proton Jumbuck ute – came close with a one-star rating.

The worst vehicle for crash safety currently on sale in Australia is the two-star Great Wall V240 twin-cab ute, sourced from China.

Three-star rated cars include the Chinese-made Foton Tunland, the Japan-made Suzuki APV trade van and Toyota LandCruiser cab-chassis, the Indian-made Mahindra Pik-up four-door trade ute, Nissan’s big, Japanese-made Patrol off-roader, and the Chinese-sourced Chery J1 that is not on sale in Victoria because it does not have potentially life-saving electronic stability control.