Autoblog

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]

Toyota's not having an easy time with the Tundra so far. It's been criticized for lacking a fully-boxed frame, the internet is alight with Tundra-hate, and now along comes the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Both Regular and Double Cab variants of Toyota's intended domestic-fighter were crashed by the agency, and both only managed four stars.

While a four star crash test rating isn't horrible, the Ford F-150, Chevy Silverado / GMC Sierra and Dodge Ram all have the strength to ring the 5-star bell and win the stuffed bunny. The likelihood of injuries in a Tundra could be up to 10-percent greater than the domestic brands because of its one-star deficit. The difference could also be as small as one-percent, however, so this news may not be as significant as it sounds at first blush. All we can really say with certainty is that the Tundra performs worse when crashed into a concrete barrier at 35mph than its competition.

No doubt the Tundra's performance in this test will again focus scrutiny on the truck's frame, which is not fully boxed like its competition. According to Mike Levine from Pickuptruck.com, the Tundra's frame is split into three parts and the front piece actually is boxed. However, the frame under the cab and bed are C-channel, and they are also affected by a frontal crash. As Levine told us, the rest of the Tundra's competition now has some ammo to aim back at the Tundra in their marketing efforts.

We expect that acceptance of the brawny fullsizer from Toyota will take a little while, and it may not come until the current generation Tundra is dead and buried, but when Toyota wants something, they don't mess around. They were up front in expecting the Tundra to receive five stars and a Best Pick from the IIHS, so don't expect this 4-star rating to last long.

[Source: Pickuptruck.com]

Getting a five-star crash test rating will get a whole lot tougher with a new proposal from the Bush Administration that would put into effect a requirement for side-impact testing.

Grade inflation is one of the reasons behind the change, and with 87% of all vehicles earning a four- or five-star rating, the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) admits that its rating system lacks influence in the car-buying decision (and we all know how much a government agency hates not having sufficient influence).

In addition to a side-impact test that might replicate a broadslide slide into a pole or tree, NHTSA is considering adding weight to the barriers to simulate impacts with heavier vehicles, increasing the speed used in crash tests, and modifying crash-test dummies to better represent smaller female occupants.

[Source: Detroit News]