Modern cars are so safe, and regulations have become so strict, that few get genuinely awful crash ratings. So, when that rare new car emerges with a zero-star safety rating, it can be pretty alarming. Unfortunately for any Brazilian customer living with a Citroen Aircross, it failed to muster a single star during Latin NCAP (New Car Assessment Program) evaluation. The video is both terrifying and hilarious.
In Brazil, the Citroen Aircross starts at 115,990 real, which roughly equates to $19,945. So it’s cheap, but not remarkably so. Comparatively, the Nissan Versa starts at $17,820 in the U.S., received good NCAP scores, and got five stars from our National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).
One of the reasons why Citroen’s cheap crossover failed so miserably is its lack of airbags; it only has two. Going back to the Versa, it has 10. Having so few airbags combined with poor seatbelts creates a deadly combination. Watching the video is morbidly funny. The crashes themselves don’t look too bad, as the car seems to deform fairly normally. But you really appreciate how unsafe the Aircross is when the dummies fly around the cabin like a bad QWOP video.
In the frontal crash test, you can see the front dummies’ heads hit the steering wheel and dashboard, even with the two front airbags, and then snap back and hit the B-pillar. I regrettably laughed out loud when I saw the baby dummies’ feet hit the B-pillar and then stick out the rear windows. The restraints completely failed to hold the child seats in place, and of course there are no curtain airbags to keep them fully inside the vehicle. Amusing when it happens to the poor dummies, though it loses that charm when you start envisioning actual humans in the same scenario.
The Aircross didn’t fair much better in the side crash test, either. Not only did the front dummies’ heads hit the side windows, but it looks like their bodies took the full brunt of the impacting vehicle’s energy. My neck also hurts from just watching the seatbelt test. Hey—the Aircross passes the Moose Test, though. One point for Citroen.
I’ve never been more grateful for modern safety technologies and regulations. Like many enthusiasts, I complain about cars getting bigger and heavier all the time. Now having been reminded what can happen when those heavy-but-vital safety features aren’t there, I think I’ll stop my bitching.
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