SolarExec
Active member
Like many of you I have been waiting for some results on the Leaf crash test from NHTSA and the IIHS. I asked Nissan (at the drive event and via the Leaf "hotline") when we should expect something. I got the following not very helpful email from Nissan:
"Thank you for your question. Vehicle safety ratings are provided by two independent organizations in the United States . The first is the New Car Assessment Program (NCAP), which is run by the US Government. The second is an organization funded by the insurance industry called the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. Each conducts crash tests or other evaluations which are used to create comparative vehicle ratings for US customers. The availability of ratings for a new vehicle depends on each organization’s own internal schedule. You can find more information about the ratings programs and currently available vehicle ratings at the following websites:"
So I wrote an email to NHTSA and got this response:
"The 2011 Nissan Leaf and 2011 Chevrolet Volt will not be tested. Unfortunately we are not able to test every vehicle in every crash mode. Each year, the NCAP is assigned a specific amount of funds by Congress. The program is not authorized to spend funds beyond what Congress approves. In order to optimize the money allotted by congress, we generally only test those vehicles with the highest expected projected sales volumes. Sometimes, NHTSA chooses to test a vehicle that has a potentially innovative safety device, regardless of the sales volume. These, along with carry-over vehicles and corporate twins, provide information on approximately 80% of the passenger vehicles sold in the USA . For further safety information on additional vehicles, you may want to visit the IIHS, EuroNCAP , Japan NCAP, or Australian NCAP websites. You can link to them from our web site. Even though your vehicle was not tested by NCAP it is still a safe car. Since the vehicle is sold in the United States , it is still required to pass minimum Federal safety standards. If it did not, the manufacturer could not sell the vehicle in this country..."
So no tests in the US this year unless the IIHS does one. Maybe from Europe or Australia. But given the very low scores on the Versa (two stars) this may be a deal killer for me.
"Thank you for your question. Vehicle safety ratings are provided by two independent organizations in the United States . The first is the New Car Assessment Program (NCAP), which is run by the US Government. The second is an organization funded by the insurance industry called the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. Each conducts crash tests or other evaluations which are used to create comparative vehicle ratings for US customers. The availability of ratings for a new vehicle depends on each organization’s own internal schedule. You can find more information about the ratings programs and currently available vehicle ratings at the following websites:"
So I wrote an email to NHTSA and got this response:
"The 2011 Nissan Leaf and 2011 Chevrolet Volt will not be tested. Unfortunately we are not able to test every vehicle in every crash mode. Each year, the NCAP is assigned a specific amount of funds by Congress. The program is not authorized to spend funds beyond what Congress approves. In order to optimize the money allotted by congress, we generally only test those vehicles with the highest expected projected sales volumes. Sometimes, NHTSA chooses to test a vehicle that has a potentially innovative safety device, regardless of the sales volume. These, along with carry-over vehicles and corporate twins, provide information on approximately 80% of the passenger vehicles sold in the USA . For further safety information on additional vehicles, you may want to visit the IIHS, EuroNCAP , Japan NCAP, or Australian NCAP websites. You can link to them from our web site. Even though your vehicle was not tested by NCAP it is still a safe car. Since the vehicle is sold in the United States , it is still required to pass minimum Federal safety standards. If it did not, the manufacturer could not sell the vehicle in this country..."
So no tests in the US this year unless the IIHS does one. Maybe from Europe or Australia. But given the very low scores on the Versa (two stars) this may be a deal killer for me.
Now that would really save a lot of gas and kWh.
