New Holden Ute Can't Use Commodore's Side-Impact Airbags, Yet

[JoeT]

Delay On Safety System

Ian Porter
29 August 2007
www.drive.com.au

Holden's new ute can't use Commodore's side-impact airbags yet.

Side and curtain airbags for Holden's VE ute could be 18 months away, an insider says.
Buyers wanting a Commodore ute with the added safety of side and curtain airbags could face an 18-month wait, Holden says.

The VE ute, launched last week, is more car-like than any Holden ute before it, but like its entry-level sedan sibling, it has no side or curtain airbags fitted.

Holden again trumpeted the installation of electronic stability program (ESP) that is standard issue across the ute range. But the deserved applause for the ESP decision was dimmed by the unavailability of side and curtain air bags, not even as an option, on any ute in the range.

In the Commodore sedan range, Holden offers a sliding scale of airbags, with side bags mounted in the front seats and curtain airbags as options, depending on the model. Luxury sedans get the six airbags as standard.

"The deployment for a side airbag is generally in the C-pillar, which a ute does not have," Holden's new chairman and managing director Chris Gubbey said at the ute launch last week.

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Side and curtain airbags for Holden's VE ute could be 18 months away, an insider says

[Tequilujan]

hmmm... interesting. Don't even think about bringing those stateside without them.

[redimpss5]

But we need them!!

[jwrebholz]

By the time they make a concrete decision to bring them here, they'll have side airbags.

[JazzyChef]

Uhh last time I checked they are coming stateside as the Pontiac G8! Which is only a few months away from intro... isn't it?

[ZvetteGuy]

Funny... my truck doesn't have curtain air bags.... hey, it doesn't even have one airbag in it...

Then, my car doesn't have side curtain airbags either... just the two airbags that protect you during a frontal crash...

Idea number one... DON'T GET IN AN ACCIDENT... now, wouldn't that be ideal?!

[Robert Ryan]

The crash safety standards in the US have to be higher than in Australia because wearing seatbelts is generally not compulsory.

Explains it all.

[MonaroSS]

Originally Posted by JazzyChef

Uhh last time I checked they are coming stateside as the Pontiac G8! Which is only a few months away from intro... isn't it?

Given that the Holden injection of vehicles into Pontiac is as much about revitalising public interest as it is in adding volume, the G8, G8 CoupeUtility and G8 SportWagon will not launch all at once. Expect G8, then a year to the Ute, then another year to the Wagon, then another year to the GTO.

This will allow GM and Pontiac to fully exploit each separate event from a PR point of view.

[paul8488]

Interesting that the deployment for the side-impact bags is in the C-pillar... I thought it would be in the seats or B-pillar. I can see them having trouble with head bags, but I hope they cna get seat-mounted side-impact bags into the Ute soon.

[Stormin]

Originally Posted by JazzyChef

Uhh last time I checked they are coming stateside as the Pontiac G8! Which is only a few months away from intro... isn't it?

This is about the ute, not the sedan. The sedan is coming as the G8.

[AndrewGS]

Originally Posted by Robert Ryan

Explains it all.

Please. Seatbelt use is the law in 49 of the 50 states (New Hampshire is the only state without seatbelt laws [Live Free or Die ]). Everyone I know (except my grandmother) puts on their belt first thing getting into a vehicle, if we don't our cars tell us to repeatedly.

[tomprice]

"The deployment for a side airbag is generally in the C-pillar, which a ute does not have"

I think he's wrong in saying that.

What I do think he means is that to have a curtain airbags, you need a C-pillar, because they usually deploy along the side of the car.

Side airbags are usually in the seat/b-pillar IIRC.

[ByTheLake]

Originally Posted by ZvetteGuy

Idea number one... DON'T GET IN AN ACCIDENT... now, wouldn't that be ideal?!

So, you're suggesting that you can control the actions of other drivers? It's easy to trust one's own actions and be completely alert, but the world is filled with morons with driver's licenses. Also, if you have teenaged children that might occasionally use the car, it's nice to have that added protection while they're honing their driving skills.

[jbernie]

Originally Posted by AndrewGS

Please. Seatbelt use is the law in 49 of the 50 states (New Hampshire is the only state without seatbelt laws [Live Free or Die ]). Everyone I know (except my grandmother) puts on their belt first thing getting into a vehicle, if we don't our cars tell us to repeatedly.

Which is fascinating given the number of people ejected from vehicles in all types of crashes, America must have some form on invisible seat belt.

Here in Colorado I believe the seat belt law is a secondary offence, ie you can't be pulled over for not wearing one but if you get pulled over for something else like speeding you can then be fined for it. It seems to pop up occasionally in state legislation to make it a primary law so you can be pulled over for the offence without needing to have done anything else but it is always defeated.

Just another case of Americans exercising their rights to be stupid & kill or seriously injure themselves. Shame they couldn't waste those precious 2 seconds to put the seatbelt on so they could still be alive and enjoy life.

As to the installation of the curtain airbags, given the size of the ute cab, it would be akin to a mini skirt vs a ball gown (sedan), there isnt exactly much space for the things, though installation of the side airbags should be more possible right now using something mounted in the side of the seat.

[asylum]

Originally Posted by tomprice

"The deployment for a side airbag is generally in the C-pillar, which a ute does not have"

I think he's wrong in saying that.

What I do think he means is that to have a curtain airbags, you need a C-pillar, because they usually deploy along the side of the car.

Side airbags are usually in the seat/b-pillar IIRC.

the curtain airbags run from the c-pillar to the a-pillar, but a large portion of the C-pillar is the canisters that charge the airbags, and there would be VERY little room in the "B/C" pillar the utes have.

i'm surprised about the side impact airbags that are built into the seats though, i thought they'd be a no-brainer?