Filed under: Trucks/Pickups, Safety, Toyota
Toyota curious about Tundra's four-star showing in crash test
Toyota is a little confused as to how its new full-size Tundra pickup only achieved a score of four stars in the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's test for frontal crash performance. Mike Levine at Pickuptruck.com, who is fast becoming Autoblog's unofficial expert on all things with a bed, spoke with Bill Kwong, a representative from Toyota, this morning. Kwong revealed that Toyota performed its own internal crash testing of the Tundra according to the NHTSA's criteria and the truck repeatedly scored five stars. This no doubt gave Toyota the confidence to predict that the Tundra would receive five stars across the board from the NHTSA, a move that definitely has the Japanese juggernaut wiping a little egg off its face now. Kwong said it will take a few weeks to sort out what contributed to the truck's four-star score, but that they'll determine what it is and fix it as soon as possible. What's more curious about this whole situation is that the NHTSA reported frontal crash test scores for both the Tundra regular cab and the Double Cab, or what the NHTSA calls the Extended Cab in its results. Toyota claims, however, that the NHTSA hasn't tested the Double Cab yet and therefore its four-star result should be immediately removed from the organization's results website, safecar.gov. While we can't verify if Toyota's claim is true, both the pictures and video released by the NHTSA of the crash tests only show the regular cab model. Based on that, it does appear that the Double Cab, as well as the four-door Crew Max, have yet to be tested. Still, the four-star score for the Double Cab model remains on safecar.gov.
Check out the video of the Tundra regular cab being crash tested after the jump.
[Source: Pickuptruck.com]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
porker 3:43PM (3/20/2007)
Isn't this vintage toyota? "We didn't do anything wrong, it must be you. But, even though it's your fault, we'll fix it if you can tell us what to fix because we're just good guys."
Reply
autobong 3:57PM (3/20/2007)
That sucks to be Toyota. First your brand new pickup gets a kick in the balls for not being quite as tough as the others. Then the NHTSA's official website makes sure there's a Karate chop on the face by posting negative misleading information regarding the extended cab.
I reiterate. Sucks to be Toyota! Domestic fanboys and Domestic Truck-lovers are :)
Reply
Lithous 4:00PM (3/20/2007)
So, the answer? Don't build a car just to pass the test (with answers given up front i.e. how to build the EXACT crash test) just build it to perform the best under all, including unforseen circumstances.
It is nice to know that safety is done by perfecting passing the test instead of just trying to build a safe vehicle for all ocassions. Sure Toyota probably isn't the only one but it would be nice if the NHTSA would tweak the tests to slightly unknown degrees once in a while to see who is just building a vehicle to pass (even with flying colors) and those who are thinking real world and adding more real world crash safety.
Look at it this way, if car companies are making their vehiles 5 star just for the test it amounts to making the MPG figure higher for the EPA rating and we see how that translates to real world. The NHTSA is one crash case done in a controlled environment with the test takers knowing the whole environment up front before the test.
Reply
3cubedminus3squared 4:03PM (3/20/2007)
Thats the same score my 96 car got.
Reply
Lithous 4:05PM (3/20/2007)
My last post was the answer to the 4 star rating. My answer to the extended cab thing is probably just a gov't employee thiking the cab behind the occupant won't affect the frontal crash test so he/she just filled in the blanks. Kinda like CR does with reliability. Instead of just letting it go as "we don't know yet" they take the model being replaced and use that to either give Japanese vehicles the nod or American vehicles the bird. Happens all the time.
Reply
Turdyota 4:06PM (3/20/2007)
Guess thats why it has those big brakes so you can stop before you bend that ugly ass front end up. I'm sure someone in congress given enough money can fix it for you.
Reply
Aaron 4:21PM (3/20/2007)
lol I'm not sure how the info is misleading if the regular cab did indeed attain those scores..
sounds like an apology for a shitty job..
ell-oh-ell
Reply
John P. 4:23PM (3/20/2007)
forget crash tests, I just hope they fixed the rattling chintzy interior.
Reply
jeffinToronto 4:37PM (3/20/2007)
Of course, you are ruling out the possibility of a Ford, GM or Nissan etc. bribing the testers with a 6 figure payoff to give the Toyota 4 stars, because Toyota is kicking the other manufacturers butts. BTW I don't own any Toyotas at the moment (but I did own a Lexus).
Reply
jeffinToronto 4:44PM (3/20/2007)
Of course, you are ruling out the possibility of a Ford, GM or Nissan etc. bribing the testers with a 6 figure payoff to give the Toyota 4 stars, because Toyota is kicking the other manufacturers butts. BTW I don't own any Toyotas at the moment (but I did own a Lexus).
Reply
The Penguin 4:45PM (3/20/2007)
Toyota needs to realize that they can't build a brtter truck than us Americans can. Why? We invented the truck and if the big 3(or 2.5) do their best the Tundra will soon go away.
Reply
jstand6 5:05PM (3/20/2007)
Looking at the numbers provided on the results pages, it appears that the Tundra's four-star rating was probably a result of chest deceleration forces, since that was the only area where it performed worse than all of the other full-size regular cab pickups. Here's a quick breakdown:
2007 Toyota Tundra Regular Cab vs. competition:
Driver head injury: Better than F-150 and Titan
Passenger head injury: Better than F-150 and Titan
Driver chest: Worst in class by 5 Gs
Passenger chest: Worst in class by 4 Gs
Driver left femur*: Better than F-150
Driver right femur*: Best in class
Passenger left femur*: Better than Ram and Titan
Passenger right femur*: Better than F-150, Silverado, and Titan
*Results provided, but not used for star rating
Looking at all of the results, it appears that the Ram performed best overall (four best-in-class scores), while the F-150 performed worst overall (four worst-in-class scores).
Reply
The other Bob 5:12PM (3/20/2007)
Not that I'd buy a Tundra, but I'd still rather be in a truck with a 4 star rating than a small car with a 5 star rating.
It's all relative to what you hit and what hits you.
Reply
far jr 5:27PM (3/20/2007)
Looking at the numbers provided on the results pages, it appears that the Tundra's four-star rating was probably a result of chest deceleration forces, since that was the only area where it performed worse than all of the other full-size regular cab pickups.
Posted at 5:05PM on Mar 20th 2007 by jstand6
I agree with jstand6 the Tundra would impart about 9400 pounds of force on the drivers seatbelt (200 lb person) vs. 7000 for the Silverado. That extra ton is likely the difference.
Reply
tomf 5:44PM (3/20/2007)
Rollovers acount for 46% of all pickup fatalities, a much greater number than the head on fatalites which this test covers. Electronic stability control
reduces rolling over by as much as 75% and can reduce involvement in other crashes such as a head on. The Tundra is the only truck in its class to come with both ESC and side airbags standard on EVERY
configuration. In the end the Tundra will have a lower fatality rate than every other competitor because of these standard safety features.
Reply
synergeist 6:39PM (3/20/2007)
There you have it, yet another reason why Americans should not buy an inferior Toyota Turd: any belief in Toyota hype is misplaced.
Reply
Joe Persad 11:32PM (6/19/2007)
Say what you will, I owned a 06 F150 5.4 Lariat crew cab for 6 months and lost 6K when I sold it due to Hydraulic lifter noise at 10K miles!!!!!!!!!!!!!! what a gas sucking hunk of crap it is. I put a K&N filter on and no matter how fast or slow I drove it struggled to give 15.5MPG - what a damned shame!!!
The dealer "could not identify" the lifter in question and refused to replace them all.
GUESS WHY I BOUGHT A DAMNED FORD F 150 -- I'LL TELL YOU.
MY O1 GMC SIERRA WHICH I BOUGHT NEW DEVELOPED A LIFTER SLAP AT 50k AND THE DEALERS' RESPONSE WAS "THAT IS INHERENT TO THE GM'S 5.3L V-8'S - SORRY!"
I WOULD BUY A TUNDRA IN A HEARTBEAT!!!
I BET THAT IS ONE SWEET ENGINE IN THAT TRUCK!! WHY NOT ?? I LOST MONEY WITH FORD AND GM AND YOU COULD NOT GIVE ME A DODGE - THEY ARE JUST CHEAP CRAP, I RENT THEM FOR MY CREWS AND THEY ARE JUNKY AND WEAK IN THE KNEES.
Itchy Biscuit 7:04PM (3/20/2007)
"16. There you have it, yet another reason why Americans should not buy an inferior Toyota Turd: any belief in Toyota hype is misplaced."
Boy, you can smell the fear, can't you? Nothing like a Toyota Tundra post to get the flag-waving pick-em-up truck driving Toyota haters to spring from the couch. First NASCAR, now trucks -- oh, the threat to the 'Merican way of life!
You all were saying the same sorts of things about Toyota cars 20 years ago. Well, we pretty much know how that ended, don't we?
Welcome to the global economy. If you don't like it, think twice about for whom you place your vote...
-IB
Reply
synergeist 7:51PM (3/20/2007)
Ironically, your failure to acknowledge the plight of manufacturing sector in the United States does pose a threat to the "'Merican way of life", as you so callously called out. This wouldn't even be an issue if Toyota adhered to fair trade principles and wasn't unfairly augmented by the currency-manipulating Japanese government and currying favors with politicians at the expense of American livelihood.
Toyota's latest Turd-ra isn't even competitive with American trucks, which offer better value, build quality, performance, and now, better protection in frontal impacts. But leave it to the underhanded Japan Inc. machine, Toyota included, to make false claims of being American, whilst covering up scandalous deficiencies in their product.
American automakers employ more Americans than Toyota could ever boast to have. That trounces Toyota's claim to being American and shows the flow of money.
Reply
Onell 8:13PM (3/20/2007)
No big deal! Consumer Report will still give big red circle on this truck. Big Red circle is better than the 4 Yellow stars!
Reply