Holden’s Barina small car has been awarded four stars out of five in crash testing conducted by independent safety authority, ANCAP.
The result is good news for Holden, which came in for strong criticism from safety authorities after the previous model performed poorly in crash tests, scoring just two stars from the Australasian New Car Assessment Program.
Holden says the improved crash performance is the result of structural improvements to the car’s body shell and the inclusion of standard side airbags on the new model, which was released locally in September.
The Barina now has four airbags as standard equipment but is one of only a handful of cars not to have anti-lock brakes as standard equipment on all models. The equipment, which prevents the car’s wheels from locking up during heavy braking, is sold as part of an $1190 pack that includes alloy wheels.
Holden controversially replaced its European-built Barina model – based on the Opel Corsa - with a Korean-built version in 2005.
Holden spokeswoman Kate Lonsdale says the new car’s bodyshell had been redesigned to spread the crash load on the car over a wider area and better absorb the impact of an offset front-end accident.
The new side airbags provide protection for the head and thorax in a side impact.
Holden says the result “confirms the effectiveness of our various safety improvements”.
ANCAP chairman Lauchlan McIntosh says the result demonstrates the growing acceptance of independent crash test results by the major manufacturers.
“Overall it was a good result, but it’s been five years since the first five-star rating was announced in Australia, so it would have been nicer if it had been a five-star result, ” he says.
However, the good result is tempered by Holden’s unusual decision to make anti-lock brakes - considered an important crash avoidance technology - an option.
Holden has sold the Barina in Australia since 1985 and the latest model has found 34,000 buyers since its local launch in 2005.
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