New car buyers are being warned that the latest model of the Holden Barina is substantially less safe then previous models.
The latest Australasian New Car Assessment Programme (ANCAP) crash test results show the 2006 Holden Barina has dropped from a four star rating to two stars.
ANCAP crash tests new vehicles to measure how safe they are and to provide consumers with valuable information on occupant protection performance.
Two stars indicates in some accidents there is a high likelihood of serious injury.
The General Manager of AA Technical Services, Stella Stocks, says most of the passenger cars and four-wheel-drives tested recently by ANCAP and equivalent overseas testing programmes have achieved four or five star ratings.
"Manufacturers routinely achieve four or five stars in crash tests using current technology, so we would expect this technology to be used in new model vehicles," says Stock.
Similar sized cars like the Honda Jazz, Toyota Corolla and Volkswagon Polo have a four star rating. The Holden Astra also gets four stars.
Land Transport NZ spokesperson Andy Knackstedt says for a car's rating to drop so substantially is practically unheard of. He says there is a real concern that people will assume the new model is at least as safe as the previous model.
"While this vehicle has the same name it's not the same vehicle and doesn't offer the same level of protection as the previous vehicle," says Knackstedt.
He says the new car is not actually an evolution of the old Barina design, but rather a re-badged Daewoo Kalos - a brand recently bought by Holden.
However, Holden is standing by the safety of the new Barina.
Holden New Zealand says it is disappointed by the results, but doesn't accept that the 2006 model is less safe than earlier models. Holden says the same tests done in the United States gave the car a five star rating.
David Russell from the Consumers' Institute is unhappy with Holden's response to the result.
"A two star rating for a new car today is simply unacceptable and then for the company to go further and even promote the car as a safe car is really stretching a long bow," says Russell.
Three hundred new Barinas have already been sold in New Zealand and Holden says despite the bad publicity it will stay in their line up.
