The Nissan Townstar and Nissan Primastar have earned Gold ratings in the latest EuroNCAP tests for light commercial vehicles.
The Townstar city van achieved a rating of 78%, while the medium-sized Primastar managed 69%, however, the new Interstar large van managed to earn EuroNCAP’s top Platinum rating with an overall score of 84%.
Euro NCAP’s new criteria for Commercial Van Ratings focuses on advanced driver assistance systems. Greater emphasis is placed on the protection of vulnerable road users, including pedestrian safety in night-time scenarios and cyclist protection. There’s also been the introduction of a new van-to-car crash scenario to ensure that all types of road user are considered during the testing.
In the testing category that evaluates a vehicle's ability to detect and alert drivers to pedestrians and other vulnerable road users, all three vehicles scored impressively. The Townstar earned 26.8 out of 30, the Primastar 27.9, and the Interstar 25.6 points.
In the area of Lane Support Systems Nissan's Townstar and Interstar models gained scores of 13.8 and 16.3 out of 20, respectively. The Primastar did not perform quite so well, achieving a score of just 2.5 out of 20 due to its lack of lane keeping assistance functions.
For Speed Assistance, the Primastar received a score of 9/15, Townstar an impressive 14.5/15 and the Interstar a total of 11.4/15.
In the category of occupant status monitoring – in other words how alert and fit to drive the driver is - EuroNCAP awarded both the Interstar and Primastar models full marks of 15/15 with the Townstar model getting 10/15.
Andrew Limbert, Light Commercial Vehicle (LCV) Manager said: “The outstanding performances across our Light Commercial Vehicle range across all categories demonstrates our clear commitment and dedication to improving passenger and road safety."
"Nissan is at the forefront when it comes to the advanced suite of technologies that act as a second pair of eyes, identifying potential dangers and helping the driver to avoid an accident. EuroNCAP's thorough testing and rating programme, is crucial for consumers to truly understand the various safety technologies we have introduced across our vehicles," he said.
"It’s great to see this recognised across their ratings," Limbert added.
The Nissan range of commercial vans shares platforms with Renault vans. The Nissan Townstar is based on the Renault Kangoo, while the Nissan Primastar shares its platform with the Renault Trafic. All four models are rated as EuroNCAP Gold.
The larger Nissan Interstar van is a sister vehicle to the Renault Master, both vans recorded a platinum rating for their EuroNCAP safety tests.
