The safest Golf drive

By ALASTAIR SLOANE

A General Motors engineer once told a US government body looking into the use of seatbelts in cars that he didn't see the need for them.

"My three children often ride with me in the front seat," he said. "If am I confronted with an emergency I reach across with an outstretched arm to hold the children in place while applying the car's brakes."

That was around 1959-60. Others as naive as the GM engineer were buying deeds to the Brooklyn Bridge and menthol cigarettes to help to ease sore throats.

Volvo had just fitted its cars with three-point shoulder/lap seatbelts as standard - the first carmaker to do so - and the Americans were asking why.

Volvo engineer Nils Bohlin had patented the three-point seatbelt in 1958, after looking at ways to stop occupants from being hurled around the car's interior and dying even in relatively minor accidents.

The American carmakers reckoned Volvo was a sissy. The Swedish carmaker had a habit of doing these sorts of things. It had put laminated windscreens in its cars in 1944, about 15 years before such designs became mandatory.

The Americans and their lawyers ignored evidence that showed American motorists were dying in similar circumstances. Seatbelts in every car would cost too much, they said. Telling Americans to belt up goes against their constitutional rights, they said. This seatbelt thing won't last, they said.

The US Government took a rain check and largely stayed out of the industry until lawyer and safety campaigner Ralph Nader forced its hand over a number of safety issues a few years later.

In New Zealand, future needs were misty, too. The Auckland Harbour Bridge had just opened. Central and local government leaders said its two lanes would whisk the flow of traffic into the future. Who needs this rapid rail thing old Robbie (Mayor Sir Dove-Myer Robinson) is on about, they said.

The one television channel that was about to deliver regular programmes out of Auckland between 2pm and 10pm will do nicely too, they said. So will 6 o'clock closing, rugby in the afternoons, and pounds, shillings and pence. Go to the moon? Not in 10 lifetimes.

Like most of New Zealand's leaders back then, the naive GM engineer couldn't have imagined the changes over 40-odd years. Especially in car safety. He'd be flabbergasted, given the way he said he protected his children. Air bags? Crumble zones? Collapsible steering wheels? Anti-lock brakes? Pedestrian protection?

Volkswagen says one of the reasons its new hatchback Golf was branded by crash-test organisation Euro New Car Assessment Programme as the safest car it has ever tested was that it engineered the Golf to meet new safety standards.

Euro NCAP said of the fifth-generation Golf: "No other passenger vehicle in any class has achieved such a good overall result for the requirements in crash safety, pedestrian protection and child protection."

The Golf was awarded 12 stars: a maximum five stars for occupant protection in front and side impact tests; a maximum four stars for child protection; and three stars for the protection of pedestrians.

The tests work thus: a front impact test at 64 km/h into an offset deformable barrier, a side impact test at 50 km/h, a side impact pole test at 29 km/h and tests with pedestrian dummies at 40 km/h.

Twelve cars went through the latest crash-test programme. Eight of the 12 received the maximum five stars for front and side impacts, but the Golf was the only vehicle to receive four stars for child protection as well as three stars for the protection of pedestrians.

"This is due to the [Golf's] extremely rigid passenger compartment and the highly effective restraint systems," said Euro NCAP.

Golf scored maximum marks in child protection thanks to the child seat's Isofix anchor points in conjunction with a supplementary upper belt.

Its flexible deformation zones at the front end, combined with an additional cross member in the front bumper, considerably reduce the risk of injury to pedestrians, Euro NCAP said.

Said VW New Zealand general manager Dean Sheed: "We are very pleased to have the safest car ever tested by the Euro NCAP. Safety is one of the key factors influencing buying decisions today."

Like many carmakers, VW points to the benefits of continuous laser welding in improving a car's body strength. It says there is 70m of laser welding in the Golf.

Back in the GM engineer's day - and for many years afterwards - cars were spot-welded. In a crash, the spot-welds often wouldn't hold the car together.

The runners-up to Golf were two sedans, the petrol-electric Toyota Prius and the new Peugeot 407.

Of the small cars, the Honda Jazz achieved the first three-star pedestrian safety rating for the supermini class.

The Honda Civic was the first vehicle to achieve a three-star pedestrian rating.

Said Claes Tingvall, Euro NCAP chairman: "These latest test results are the second to give cars a specific rating of between one and five stars for the protection given to children.

"However, it is important to note that the rating applies to the car in combination with the restraints used in our tests.

"It does not act as a general rating for the car or the model of child restraint.

"In this phase, all but two of the cars had some form of intelligent seatbelt reminder and, for the first time, a seatbelt reminder for rear seats was provided by Volvo, in their S40.

"This is a most welcome development as increased seatbelt-wearing rates across the 25 member states of the EU has the potential to save more than 7000 lives.

"I am particularly pleased to see that eight cars achieved the coveted five-star rating for occupant protection, and note that manufacturers are setting targets for new designs of car at four and five stars.

"However, while Honda continues to lead in the development of pedestrian-friendly car fronts, I am disappointed to see that other manufacturers lag so far behind.

"Manufacturers have risen to the challenge for occupant and child protection. It is now time for them to redouble their efforts and move forward in this safety area."

Others cars tested were:

* Saab 9-3 Convertible: occupant protection 5 stars; child protection 3 stars; pedestrian protection 1 star.

* Volvo S40: 5 stars; 4 stars; 2 stars.

* Opel/Vauxhall/Holden Astra: 5 stars; 4 stars; 1 star.

* Renault Megane coupe/convertible: 5 stars; 3 stars; 2 stars.

* Honda Jazz: 4 stars; 3 stars; 3 stars.

* Toyota Corolla Verso MPV: 5 stars; 4 stars; 2 stars.

* Fiat Doblo, light van: 3 stars; 3 stars; 1 star.

* BMW Z4 two-seater: 4 stars; N/A; 2 stars.

* Opel/Vauxhall Tigra two-seater: 4 stars; N/A; 2 stars.