GM hits back at ‘unsafe’ claims for US utes

General Motors Australia and Ford have defended the safety of the American-sized pickup trucks they sell after the local safety authority recently questioned their suitability of local roads.

Cara Hoorweg, head of the Australasian New Car Assessment Program (ANCAP), told media earlier this month that the organisation has “concerns” over the pedestrian safety of the new breed of American pickups on local roads. These include the Chevrolet Silverado, Ford F-150, new Toyota Tundra and the Ram line-up, which have proven popular in Australia for their size and pulling power.

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But GM Australia boss, Jess Bala, has dismissed the concerns, stating the company has made every effort to ensure its biggest vehicles are as safe as possible, including the recently revealed GMC Yukon SUV as well as the Chevrolet Silverado pickups.

“I mean, I personally, I haven’t seen the comments, but I think just based on the tech that’s in these cars, they’re fully loaded vehicles,” Bala told Torquecafe. “The Yukon I believe has 13 different camera angles that you can look at.

“It’s got all the sensors, the radars and everything like that, that’s in there. So it comes fully loaded with the safety content. I mean, I can’t comment on why they test and what they test here, but I do know that we put every piece of safety content that we have available at GM on these vehicles.”

Hoorweg revealed that ANCAP is considering running a limited range of tests, focused on pedestrian safety, rather than a full suite of crash tests that would require multiple vehicles to be crashed at ANCAP’s expense.

Bala said GM had no plans on donating any vehicles for ANCAP to crash test but said it is happy to work with the safety authority. However, she added her preference would be for a full raft of tests, rather than isolating one element of its safety portfolio.

“Yeah, I can’t comment, obviously, on what their intentions are, or what their goals are, but, I mean, we would always work with those bodies to help them with whatever they want to test,” Bala said. “Ideally they’d test the full range, because I think that’s what consumers are looking for.

“They want to look at the full range of safety. But again, it’s sort of hard to know exactly what their rationale is behind it.”

Lauren Indiveri-Clarke, GM Australia’s communications director, added that while ANCAP hasn’t tested a US-built pickup they have undergone several crash tests, including from America’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which has given it a five-star overall safety rating.

“And I mean, you know, even though they’re not tested here, they are tested in other markets,” Indiveri-Clarke said. “We know that they’re safe, yeah. We wouldn’t sell them otherwise.”

A Ford spokesperson didn’t go into specifics around the concerns ANCAP expressed towards its F-150 but said the blue oval has a good relationship with the safety body.

“The Ford F-150 is equipped with a comprehensive suite of active and passive safety technologies designed to operate effectively in real-world scenarios, and meets or exceeds all local safety regulations and requirements,” Ford said. “We continue to work with ANCAP on a range of topics, such as the recently updated commercial van ratings.”