A possible headline for a future car… because the current (brand new) Audi Q7, despite all of the robustness that its design implies, failed to achieve 5 stars in the EuroNCAP crush-tests. Let’s recall what EuroNCAP wrote in the final report:
"Poor welding resulted in rupture of the footwall area. There was separation of the seam connecting the firewall to the footwall and failure of spot-welds in the footwall and its connection to the A-pillar. Audi have informed us that they have now improved control over this part of production but the car lost points for its performance in this area. Structures in the dashboard presented a potential risk to the knees and femurs of the driver."
This event reminded us about the EuroNCAP crash tests. These have become boring simply because almost every new car could achieve a 5-star rating (except the cheaper Korean models). So predictable that people have started discussing the introduction of a sixth star and raise the level a bit. Maybe it’s better to wait a litlle bit until Audi engineers learn this crashworthiness thing.
And yet the most interesting feature about these news is not the result itself. It’s the lack of attention from the media. Make no mistake, had it been the safety leaders Mercedes or Renault having such result and that would be in the front pages with big and bold headlines. But not Audi, they seeem to have invented a sort of reversed-hype for these events. That’s hype, only it works au contraire. Brilliant stuff!
"Poor welding resulted in rupture of the footwall area. There was separation of the seam connecting the firewall to the footwall and failure of spot-welds in the footwall and its connection to the A-pillar. Audi have informed us that they have now improved control over this part of production but the car lost points for its performance in this area. Structures in the dashboard presented a potential risk to the knees and femurs of the driver."
This event reminded us about the EuroNCAP crash tests. These have become boring simply because almost every new car could achieve a 5-star rating (except the cheaper Korean models). So predictable that people have started discussing the introduction of a sixth star and raise the level a bit. Maybe it’s better to wait a litlle bit until Audi engineers learn this crashworthiness thing.
And yet the most interesting feature about these news is not the result itself. It’s the lack of attention from the media. Make no mistake, had it been the safety leaders Mercedes or Renault having such result and that would be in the front pages with big and bold headlines. But not Audi, they seeem to have invented a sort of reversed-hype for these events. That’s hype, only it works au contraire. Brilliant stuff!
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