Hyundai Gains Edge With Hybrid Battery Replacement Coverage
February 6, 2012 – 1:40 pm | No Comment

Korean automaker finds yet another way to trump its competitors.
What would keep you from buying a hybrid model? Besides price, one of the most significant concerns for potential buyers are each model’s battery packs. Those …

Read the full story »
Auto Technology

Car Tips

Car Reviews

Auto Shows

Book Reviews

Home » Commentary

Brilliance Quality Is Still Lacking

Submitted by on July 21, 2008 – 3:30 am8 Comments

Chinese Automaker Retests Its Failed Sedan

Let’s face it: when it comes to building reliable and safe vehicles, the People’s Republic of China has a lot to learn.

Brilliance China Auto (or Brilliance) was proven to be quite daft when they had one of their sedans tested, the BS 6 (good name!), and it failed miserably. Scoring just a “1″ on a scale ranging from 1 to 5 for the Euro NCAP cars safety test, the BS 6 quickly became the poster child for crappy Chinese products.

The first test was completed in June 2007 and the wreck it produced was nothing short of a disaster. The two frontal airbags deployed, but that didn’t stop a crash test dummy from hitting its head on the dashboard. Moreover, the doors jammed shut, pinning the passengers inside, and the windshield worked its way loose and was shot over the front of the car. The following YouTube video depicts the carnage:

After the test, the engineers from Brilliance met with German engineers to seek their advice on how to improve the car. Less than three months later the modified car was readied and a second test was held where Brilliance’s safety score jumped to a 3. Now, before you marvel at the score, consider this: even the tiny Smart Fortwo scores a “4″ and quite a few American, Japanese, and European models routinely get top scores.

Check out this next video for the updated Brilliance test:

Related to this second crash the China Car Times published an article titled, “Brilliance BS6, not as lethal as before.” I commend the Chinese for their accuracy and their honesty, but when it comes to my cars, safety is paramount.

Last year, I wrote an article detailing Brilliance’s trouble and I’m sure I’ll come across more information in the future about this company that should be given plenty of press.

We’re not likely to see the first Chinese imports before 2010, but when they do arrive, I hope their safety and quality standards measure up. If not, you’d best avoid what even the Chinese press recognizes as a lethal car.

8 Comments »

Leave a comment!

Add your comment below, or trackback from your own site. You can also subscribe to these comments via RSS.

Be nice. Keep it clean. Stay on topic. No spam.

You can use these tags:
<a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>

This is a Gravatar-enabled weblog. To get your own globally-recognized-avatar, please register at Gravatar.