VW vs Merc on 5 stars

...and could even be dangerous to other drivers — a Volkswagen expert says. But Mercedes-Benz responds that such statements are ‘rubbish’.

Prof Horst Oehlschlaeger, head of concept development for Volkwagen’s popular Transporter van, says getting a five-star crash rating for the upgraded model due here next year is ‘not so important’. “I think if you look at the question of injuries, there is very little difference between five-star to four-star,” Prof Oehlschlaeger says. “It’s not a big difference at all.”

He says that while it may be a little safer for the occupants, a five-star van can be more dangerous to passenger vehicles it crashes into. “In reality, if you make the van stiffer and stronger for five-star, you will do more damage to the smaller passenger cars they come into contact with in an accident,” he says. “You have to look at crash compatibility with small cars, so as well as crashing Transporter with another Transporter, we crashed it with a Golf and a Polo.”

Prof Oehlschlaeger says the Transporter, the current model of which has four stars in Europe’s NCAP ratings, is expected to be ‘borderline’ between four and five stars – but not reach five — when the new model is tested, although there have been no structural changes.

He says any extra points will come mainly from the addition of side curtain airbags, while the inclusion of ESP and ABS as standard features — rather than options – will also be attractive safety points for the market.

However, Mercedes-Benz, which gets a five-star rating on its Viano and Vito vans in a segment where most get just three, says the highest crash rating is just as crucial for the light commercial segment as for passenger vehicles. “To say it’s not important is – quite frankly – wrong. And you would only say that if you can’t get them,” Mercedes-Benz spokesman David McCarthy says. “The difference between four stars and five stars is significant. “Safety in these vehicles needs to be lifted, not reduced or kept the same. Vehicle crash safety is just as important for people who drive commercial vehicles. “To say otherwise is very regrettable, and it’s a generalisation that does not do credit to a brand such as Volkswagen with a very good tradition of safety – a company that makes predominantly five-star passenger vehicles.”

McCarthy says the same logic about impact between larger and smaller cars is not applied to Volkswagen’s passenger vehicle ranges. “If Volkswagen is concerned about the damage large, five-star rated vehicles do to smaller ones, can we assume they are going to stop making Touareg, Phaeton and Bentleys, and just stick to making Polos,” he says. “To anybody – anybody — saying that safety is not important in that segment, I would prescribe a couple of reality pills. “And I’m sure Worksafe and the Transport Accident Commission would be happy to supply a glass of water to swallow them with.”