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Citroen C4 Picasso Safety & Features

The Citroen C4 Picasso is set to be on display at the Australian International Motor Show (Thursday 26 October 2006), so for those of you who are lucky enough to attend the show, be sure to check out Citroens new people mover. If your thinking about buying a people mover, then you really need to check out the Citroen C4. Why? Not only does it look fantastic, but the whole point of a people mover is to move people in the safest and most comfortable way possible. So how safe is the all new Citroen C4? Well its just been awarded the top five star safety rating by Euro-NCAP, the toughest independent safety testing organisation in the world.


"This result is yet another clear demonstration of the depth of ability and integrity offered by Citroen when it comes to safety," says Miles Williams, General Manager for Citroen in Australia. "This is not just because the C4 Picasso scored a five star result ahead of a much larger, more expensive car in the same round of results, proving that money and size do not guarantee safety. It is also because the C4 Picasso joins the Citroen C4 hatches, the Citroen C5 and Citroen C6 in the Citroen range with five star safety ratings."

The Citroën C4 Picasso is set to go on sale early in 2007 with a choice of state-of-the-art Citroen diesel engines, the Citroën C4 Picasso will surely save you money on fuel, and possibly save your life. So what do you actually get with a car that has a five star safety rating? 7 air bags to begin with, and a great deal of effort put into protection in side impacts, something that Euro-NCAP recognised, presenting the C4 Picasso with a 100 per cent score in this area.

Airbags

Driver knee airbag

The C4 Picasso is the first MPV to feature a steering column airbag protecting the driver's knees and shins in the event of impact.

Two front airbags, including a driver airbag designed to always deploy at the right angle

The driver and front passenger are protected by front airbags whose inflation pressure and volume adjust automatically to the force of collision. The presence of the fixed-centred controls steering wheel means that the driver's airbag always deploys at the right angle.

Two side airbags and two curtain airbags

Two side airbags in the front seats provide chest protection and two curtain airbags provide head protection for passengers in the first two rows of seats.

Emphasis on child safety

Seatbelt warning indicators at front and rear
The C4 Picasso features audible and visual seatbelt warning indicators. It also alerts the driver if a seatbelt in any of the rear seats (rows 2 and 3) is unbuckled when the car is in motion. This information is displayed on a car seat diagram on the central dashboard display.

All seats are fitted with three-point seatbelts. The belt on the central seat in the second row has two buckles, on either side of the seat. The belts on the rear-most seats can be wound up above the luggage cover, for unimpeded access to the luggage compartment. The front seatbelts are height-adjustable and fitted with dual pyrotechnic pretensioners with load limiters.

Child-watch mirror
A special child-watch mirror located above the main rear view mirror lets the driver or front-seat passenger keep an eye on children in the back without having to turn round or alter the position of the main rearview mirror.

Child-lock system for doors and windows
The electric controls for rear doors and windows can be disabled from the driver's position or the remote control. The windows and shutter blind are fitted with an anti-pinch safety system to prevent a child's finger being trapped.

Reinforced structure

To meet the toughest passive safety standards, the C4 Picasso has a specially reinforced structure to optimise energy absorption on impact. Programmed crumple zones at front and rear absorb impact energy to keep the passenger compartment intact.

The front impact absorbers were redesigned on the C4 Picasso in order to make the front pillars thinner. Impact energy is absorbed via the substructure and doors.

  • The sizing of the front suspension is optimised to transfer energy under the body in the event of frontal impact.
  • The lower impact absorber has been reinforced, with a stronger engine cradle and mounts, and an additional clamp. As on the C4, the C4 Picasso features a second lower impact absorber at the bottom of the front end, for more effective energy transfer under frontal impact. This absorber takes the form of a lower front bumper beam and engine cradle extensions.
  • For greater overall stiffness, the front doors are reinforced with very-high-yield steel tubes and crumpling impact dampers.
  • Particular attention was given to the movement of hard incompressible masses in the engine compartment, in order to minimise the risk of intrusion into the passenger compartment.
  • The body is stiffened by large structural inserts at the bottom of the front pillar, at the top and bottom of the central pillar, and in the cross-member above the rear axle. These composite assemblies, made of polyamide and structural foam, adhere to the sheet metal at the electrocoat dip stage. In this way, they block strategic nodes in the body structure to afford improved stiffness. They replace the heavier reinforcements used in conventional body design.

To reduce vehicle weight and the cost of repairing minor impacts, the C4 Picasso has front wings made of plastic and front and rear beams made of aluminium. In the event of frontal impact, the upper beam and dampers crumple while the cantrails remain intact. Similarly, the lower bumper will crumple leaving the engine cradle and its extensions intact.

Protection against theft and break-in

The C4 Picasso offers excellent protection against theft and break-in.

The main features include the following:

  • Laminated glass windscreen and side windows, to protect vehicle occupants and their belongings;
  • Selective door opening mode, with restricted access programmed by the driver using the onboard computer (only the driver door unlocks);
  • Super locking, making it impossible to open a door from the inside after a window has been broken, for example.
  • A perimetric alarm, which detects if a door is opened other than via the central control, and a volumetric alarm, which detects movement inside the car. The volumetric alarm can be disabled from a switch positioned bottom left of the steering wheel. (This can be useful, for example, when leaving an animal in the vehicle, since it maintains the perimetric alarm);
  • A transponder-based electronic engine immobiliser;
  • A tamper-proof electric boot lock;
  • An anti-theft nut on each of the aluminium wheels;
  • Automatic vehicle lock-up if no door is opened within 30 seconds of the vehicle being unlocked;
  • Automatic locking of doors and boot when the vehicle is in motion.

Full Australian pricing and specification for the Citroën C4 Picasso will be announced when it goes on sale in early 2007.

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