Toyota’s Clarification on Poor Camry Crash Test Result in the USA

Toyota’s Clarification on Poor Camry Crash Test Result in the USA

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In a recent series of crash tests conducted on 86 different 2002 models conducted by the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), a government agency, the latest Toyota Camry scored an uncharacteristic two stars, out of a maximum of five possible, in a side-impact crash. In the test, vehicles are rammed on the driver’s side with a 1368 kg barrier moving at 61 km/h.

Toyota was surprised by the result which it felt were inconsistent with its own GOA in-house test results that included side impact crash tests. Nevertheless, the company conducted investigations to determine why there was such a disparity.

According to S. Kitazawa, the Chief Engineer for the Camry who was in Malaysia yesterday to introduce the new Camry to motoring journalists, the US Camry tested (which was not equipped with side airbags for the test) had some manufacturing issues that needed to be rectified and counter-measures have been taken. He expressed confidence that, as designed, the new Camry can provide a very high level of side impact protection.

“However, I must also explain that the Camry sold in the US market, which is also manufactured there, is not exactly the same as the one assembled in Malaysia,” Mr Kitazawa told AUTOWORLD.COM.MY. “We have tested a unit identical to the Malaysian one, and it was able to pass our tough in-house GOA standards and also scored 15.8% out of 16% in crash testing based on EuroNCAP standards.”

“New Camry owners in Malaysia should therefore not have any worry about the matter of side impact protection. It is very high, as our own tests have confirmed,” he said, adding that the new Camry has a stronger bodyshell than the previous one.

He made it clear, though, that the tests were conducted by Toyota and not EuroNCAP. It is likely that the new Camry, which is now being exported to Europe, will be tested in the 2003 series of EuroNCAP tests so we’ll have to wait another year to see. Anyway, with such a high in-house score based on the same criteria, it would not be surprising to see the Camry perform impressively in an official test by the independent European organisation.

The new Toyota Camry 2.0E and 2.4V will officially go on sale in Malaysia on July 12 and test-drives will be available at all UMW Toyota Motor branches.

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