Comments on: Kia Soul and Honda Jazz get four star safety ratings

By: tekkyy

tekkyy — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 11:20:18 +0000

A small car has narrower track width.
It is on the wrong side of centre of gravity height / track width ratio.
One reason why you really want ESC on a small car or 4WD.

Good on ANCAP report and caradvice.com.au comments for spreading the word on the issue.

We do get short changed from the manufacturers. The US Camry has knee airbag.

Honda is greedy though are they? With the Australia-Thailand free trade agreement the Jazz should be cheaper than competitors and with more features.
But everything comes full circle. Honda is not exactly a popular brand by sales stats.

By: Andrew M

Andrew M — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 10:29:29 +0000

Perhaps they were trying to keep the crash ratings low to ensure the chinese market wont reject them for being too safe like Renaults……….

On the safety side of things,
I wonder how long it is before Bluetooth is considered a Safety feature…..

By: Confused

Confused — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 17:30:04 +0000

I always thought Kia Soul is a gimmick car. They tried to mask the poor quality/safety with funkyness.

Hona Jazz? Uhhh. Mechanically not much wrong, but intention to cheat on faithful customers. Now that ANCAP pulled their pants down, they started to cry loud. Poor them chchchch.

By: John

John — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 05:59:58 +0000

When I was looking for a car last year I ruled out the new Jazz because it didn’t have ESP. Long story short, I later ended up buying a Jazz despite the lack of ESP. But I still think it’s bordering on criminal that ESP isn’t available on the Jazz even as an option. Honda’s talk about it taking time to calibrate ESP is just rubbish, in that it might well take time, but they should have started 2 years ago! They made a business decision to sell the Jazz without ESP because they probably figured their target market wouldn’t care too much, and they’re probably right.

However, of much greater concern is the dashboard design, which leaves the knee of the left leg open to massive damage in the event of a prang. The EURONCAP test result bears this out (although as their test car was LHD, it was the right knee that suffered). Sit in the driver’s seat of a Jazz, adopt a driving position and you’ll see what I mean.

Shame on Honda for putting marketing and interior design ahead of safety.

Apart from that though, the new Jazz is OK, but not as well built as the old model.

By: TSI

TSI — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 13:59:55 +0000

Jazz is expensive but City is even more expensive…. In Thailand, City is cheaper than Jazz…. I dont know what are they thinking ???

By: SamR

SamR — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 12:46:18 +0000

The Jazz is pricing itself out of the market.

I saw some very high drive away prices for the Jazz in the papers.

The Jazz VTi seems to be more expensive then the Corolla Ascent in drive away price. Nuts.

By: Blah

Blah — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 12:44:47 +0000

Does anyone find the seat belt reminder that important? It should be automatic to put on the seat belt.

If you can pay more and get the safety features that people have the choice. If the choice is there people shouldn’t complain.

By: Mumble Duck

Mumble Duck — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 09:20:53 +0000

What!? But didn’t the Kia Soul get a 5 star Euro-NCAP?

By: Supercujo

Supercujo — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 03:44:14 +0000

TOTom: But people don’t research their car buying decisions. They buy based on looks and the nice sales dude who threw in rust proofing and tinting for no extra cost.

By: Yianni

Yianni — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 03:40:24 +0000

Good on ANCAP!

This is a slap in the face to the manufacturers that think they can get away with such safety omissions these days.

Honda seems to be very arrogant in the way they handle things. Let’s not even go in to their pricing strategy lately… Can anyone say overpriced City?!?!

The best way to make these manufacturers learn is to simply not buy their cars. What’s the bet they will fix all their safety issues pronto when their sales start to dwindle.