The , manufactured in Brazil, achieved five stars for Adult and Child Occupant Protection plus a Latin NCAP Advanced Awards for its Pedestrian Protection, the same result as the New Onix Plus introduced two months ago. The recently launched Chevrolet New Onix Hatchback offers (ESC) and 6 airbags as standard: two frontal, two side body plus two curtain airbags. The New Onix Plus showed good performance in frontal, side and side pole impact for adult and child occupant protection. Chevrolet recommended to install both child dummies facing rearwards, following the latest global best practice. This was confirmed with high protection scores in the dynamic test for child occupants. The New Onix Hatchback offers Seatbelt Reminders (SBR) as standard in front and in the rear seats, which is a very relevant equipment not yet that common in Latin America. Moreover the New Onix hatchback offers as standard, according to United Nations Regulation and this relevant safety characteristic made the model earn a Latin NCAP Advanced Award.
As the Chevrolet New Onix Hatchback has a different wheel base than the Onix Plus (sedan version), after confirming that both cars are the same in the front until the B-pillar and in its platform, Latin NCAP assessed the hatchback for the side impact test and considered the results of the frontal and pole impact protection of the Sedan version. After detailed analysis, the rating was extended for the hatchback version as well. The New Chevrolet Onix Hatchback, that aims to substitute in the market the best-selling model in Brazil and in the region, is another milestone in vehicle safety offered in Latin America with a popular model offering such a high level of basic safety equipment.
The pick up achieved zero stars for Adult Occupant Protection and two stars for Child Occupant Protection. The latest version of the best-selling pick-up in Chile is available in the market without airbags, Seatbelt Reminders and ESC. The model scored zero stars for adult occupant protection due to the high probability of life threatening injuries at a crash at only 64km/h. The L200 showed an unstable structure and footwell rupture. Following the recommendation of the car manufacturer, the CRS were installed using seatbelts instead of recommending ISOFIX CRS to be used with the ISOFIX anchorages available in the car as standard. The CRS offered low protection for the 3 years old dummy. Still in 2019, the L200 offers a version with lap belts in the rear centre seating position still in 2019. Considering Mitsubishi’s models tested by Latin NCAP it is clear that Child Occupant Protection does not appear to be a priority for this manufacturer.
Mitsubishi committed to increase the basic standard equipment of the L200 throughout Latin America in production as from February 2020, reaching the market no earlier than April 2020, with driver and passenger frontal airbags and driver and passenger seatbelts with pretensioners and load limiters. Latin NCAP considers that this equipment is not enough as it will still lack ESC, side head protection and pedestrian protection which are needed to score more than two stars in 2020 Latin NCAP’s protocols. The effectiveness of the updated equipment must be proven to Latin NCAP and consumers by having the L200 tested and assessed by Latin NCAP as soon as they become available.
The Mitsubishi L200 is very popular among fleet managers, particularly for mining companies in the region, and it is Chile’s best-selling pickup. With this alarmingly poor result, Latin NCAP calls on fleet managers to take immediate action and to adopt a five star fleet policy ahead of the UN Ministerial road safety meeting in Sweden next February 2020.
Latin NCAP believes it is totally unacceptable for Mitsubishi and some Mitsubishi importers in Latin America to be offering the L200 with zero star safety levels and misleading customers by saying “airbags are not needed as the structure is robust” (statement from a salesman to a Latin NCAP at the time of buying the car as a mystery shopper). The ethics of Mitsubishi and its importers in Latin America should be seriously questioned for putting people’s lives at risk and misinforming consumers in such a sensitive topic as safety. It is of deep concern that Mitsubishi apparently discriminates against Latin American consumers as they do in terms of basic safety equipment.
