ANCAP 2008 Ford Transit Crash Test
December 6, 2008 by Anthony Crawford
Given the sheer number of tradespeople on the road each day, ANCAP rightly intend to test more commercial vehicles so that buyers will have more of a choice when it comes to safety, and the final purchase decision.
This ANCAP strategy can only serve to put more pressure on the manufacturers to include additional safety features as standard kit on these vehicles.
This particular test, which the media witnessed from a protected observation deck, is called the offset frontal crash test and simulates colliding with another vehicle at 64km/h. While you might not think it is all that fast, let me assure you, that the impact of a vehicle this size at this speed, is severe and absolutely terrifying.
As the Transit van collided with the crushable aluminium barrier, the force of the impact actually bounced the vehicle through 90-degrees, so it was facing an entirely new direction.
The test process is highly complex one and it takes three days to prepare the vehicle, with a large number of sensors wired up to the dummy occupants and back to sophisticated measuring equipment, which was secured in the cargo area of the Transit.
The dummies are also marked with various colours on different parts of their bodies, so as to provide noticeable points of impact within the cabin. Although both dummies connected with the dash on impact, there is not way of visually diagnosing the results until the crash data is properly analysed.
There is no question that each and every car crash is a result of many different factors involving both driver and car, but with enough safety systems on board as standard equipment, ANCAP strongly believe that both fatalities and serious injuries can be dramatically reduced.
We will publish pictures and the results of the Ford Transit crash test in a few weeks when the ANCAP results are known but until then, safe motoring.
lol that barina is still smiling.
I still think the problem with ESC/DSC etc is there is plenty of good ones but there is still plenty of bad ones that you sometimes feel are only there to tick a box in the brochure rather then save lives.
It’s now available on most cars but there is still some dragging their feet particularly commercial vehicles unfortunately as these cars are often more likely to crash due to the lack of grip from light truck tyres & high centres of gravity, not to mention they do more driving then most people do & often with younger men who are pushed for time.
The Barina looks less damaged than the Falcon ute….
If you need a large van, get the Mercedes Sprinter.
I had a Transit before the Sprinter, and the Sprinter is miles ahead.
Good point Chris. Australia Post recently changed from Transit to Mercedes, due I believe to their bad experiences with Transit.
Simon look closely ont he falcon the fron is gone but look at the a and b pillars and see howt he barinas are crumpled
Australia Post went to Sprinters because of the availability of Automatic transmissions and Ford had issues with Supply of the Transit. Very frustrating as my dealership supplied Aus Post with their Transits and now that we don’t we have lost quite a bit of business. Unfortunately this is a manufacturer problem…
Spitfire – Australia Post changed over due to the lack of availability of an automatic gearbox on the current range of Transits. Probably not a good argument to bring up reliability when talking about mercedes vans, because mercedes vans actually have an EXTREEMLY suspect reliability record in Australia… one would hope they are ontop of them now, but the earlier models where hopeless, constant and often terminal overheating issues…
looks like we where both thinking the same thing Pat E!!
I’m a holden man as everyone knows, but i used to work for Australia post and credit where its due, those transits where flogged HARD every day and the Australia Post fleet of transits where often up to 10 years old, yet they still kept smiling and coming back for more.
And when i say flogged.. i mean properly PROPERLY flogged!
Nice one Richo!
Yes, they were flogged pretty well – just ask the service dept boys! haha
Well looks like spitfire just got shot down.
Richo… Id say Merc-Benz have ironed out the problems with the Sprinter vans given that they are being used by the Ambulance Service – the last thing they’d want is an electrical gremlin to shutdown the engine whilst rushing someone to hospital etc.
Having said that I believe The transit still remains the worlds most popular commercial van because it comes in so many configurations etc unlike the Sprinter the VW Transporter The Renault Trafik or the Hiace.
Wheelnut,
i dont think anyone in the ambos think that hard about about the past of the make of vehicles they use.
I know the ambos put more choice into the purpose of the vehicle than any past bad experiences with the vehicle
Guys, I currently own a Sprinter and can’t fault it at all, however I can’t say the same for the previous Transit.
My Sprinter has had no problems at all, so don’t know what Richo is smoking ?
Maybe he’d care to provide some hard facts on these faults?
As some of you have already stated, the Ambulance fleet, Australia Post and many other big fleets run Sprinters now, cause they have proved themselves more than capable and reliable.
Hi have a 2004 sprinter 2.2TDI 125,000km, i wouldn’t say they are a “bad” van but they definately aren’t great either! I just had to do the injectors on mine, an i think doing that on a van that has not worked hard at all with only 125 k’s on the clock is pretty poor and to top it off Mercedes are RIP OFF’s! $2500 just for the injectors only, i’m starting to like the Ford Transits
Bob says I was shot down. Well I am still airborne with all guns blazing.
The facts are Australia Post have ditched their Ford Transit vans and embraced Mercedes. I rest my case.
Does anyone have a view on transit vs ducato??
Any word on the ford transit safety results?
I see elsewhere that the ford transit has an ancap rating of 5 – how did it get this high score?
Well Rolf let me tell you the Transit is not much better for parts. Injectors for tubo deisel range from $450 to $1200 each. and that is just for the injectors.
Mark, thats not suprising one little bit. Price injectors for any late model diesel vehicle and you’ll find similar pricing I’d very confidently say.
Actually non of the late models are as expensive as $1200. But they’re still around $828.00, but no great suprise there
..im a pom lol and ive owned, driven and sold many transits over the years ….the transit is and always was aperfect example of a commercial vehicle comfortable relatively cheap and capable i presently run an old ex aus post swb van[amongst other transit vans on my fleet ] with a2.0ohc [petrol] lump init its done 300000kms and still going strong why ? because its been looked after.it doesnt help that Ford here semm to have no interest in supporting the tranny [i quote 783 bucks for a set of rear brake shoes ]i bought them for 16quid back home and had them shipped here for 10quid ..the guy inthe parts dept basically couldnt wait to get rid of me
ive also driven merc sprinters good vans but bloody expensive to run and when they go wrong they go wrong big time..the reason i use euro vans is because no jap van is wide enough for bike recovery and the only euro van worth owning is the transit