Crash Test 2001 - 2004 Volkswagen Passat (Frontal Test) EuroNcap

Comments
The Passat's strong passenger cell provides a safe survival space. In the side impact, a car fitted with the optional head protection airbag earned full marks (see right). The area that the drivers knees might hit in the frontal impact included hard areas that could cause serious injuries. The bonnets leading edge proved friendlier to pedestrians than those of many competitors.

Front impact
The drivers head almost rolled off the airbag and then hit the waist rail of the door as it rebounded. Although the car lost no points for this, it did because his chest hit the steering wheel. Otherwise the restraint systems protected well. Hard points behind the facia threatened the drivers knees and upper legs, however. The centre rear lap belt offered less protection than a three-point belt, which was optional Euro NCAP believes it should be standard.

Side impact
The Passats performance was impressive. The head airbag worked well and provided equal protection for front and rear seat occupants. VW paid for a pole test to assess the optional head-protection curtain. It is a shame that this is not standard equipment.

Child-protection
A passenger airbag is standard and VW needs to take seriously the risk of serious injury or death to children in rear-facing restraints fitted to an adjacent seat. Neither a pictogram (which was hard to understand) nor a peel-off label on the screen warned of the risks if the advice they gave was ignored. VW-branded Romer Prince Bobsy G1 Universal forward-facing restraints were chosen for testing. These worked well but did not protect the 18-month-old childs neck. A version of this restraint that uses the ISOFIX attachment system performed poorly when previously tested by Euro NCAP in the Skoda Fabia. VW did not specify it for this test. However, it continues to be sold by Volkswagen dealers.

Pedestrian protection
The Passats performance was average for cars of this size. However its bonnet leading edge did an above-average job, showing that good design can significantly improve pedestrian safety.

Category:

Autos & Vehicles

Tags:

• Crash
• Test
• 2001
• 2004
• Volkswagen
• Passat
• (Frontal
• Test)
• EuroNcap

[bmazzz]

heh i have same passat 2001 yr. its realy solid and good car, and i don`t know why you say, that this car need so many repairs? i bought this car used from a man in germany, and in a about half year, i only changed one relay ( about 100 lt in EUR its about 25 EUR (original from VW salon) and didnt do any repairs :) (my passat had runed 55k when i bought it, and now its about 80k and no problem :).

[adrianogerber]

My wife crashed the same model (passat 2004 1.8T). She left the accident intact. This car is realy very safe...

[thekyriakos]

@bmazzz the same for my dad he has the 1.8t and has 100km no problems

[Annihilator1111]

the 2001-2004 Volkswagen Passat was assembled in

Emden & Mosel

Zwickau, Germany

Solomonovo, Ukraine 

[bushidoartss]

@719FoxRider719 more repairs?  this is german car friend..more better then ford or any american japanese car...

[bmazzz]

mm, it was really strong argument about USA and EU :)

[719FoxRider719]

yeah urs is a different year, but also yours is in europe so theres a lot of differences in european passats and american ones...totally different engine probably. the car is really solid and safe, just always in the shop

[719FoxRider719]

yeah theyre really nice on the inside and the design is good, and they feel real solid, but ours is in the shop all the time because of the check engine light. i would not recommend this car unless you have the money for all the repairs it has to have

[GMminivans9968]

Looks worse than it actually did (4 stars).

[alexkvaskov]

This a neat car