ute safety (or lack thereof)

[Taranaki]

In VZ utes, one got EBD and seat-belt tensioners, but no side airbags. The dual-cab Crewman did get side airbags. I am aware that side airbags require a lot of R&D (computer modelling and crash tests) to get right.
But why did Holden only offer them for the Crewman, which would have been a smaller niche market than the coupe-utility?

 

[Benboy]

Utes were (are) considered to be a work vehicle. Most 'tradies' wouldn't have a clue regarding vehicle occupant safety etc.

 

[Taranaki]

Utes were (are) considered to be a work vehicle. Most 'tradies' wouldn't have a clue regarding vehicle occupant safety etc.

Well, Ford went for the tradie market with its Falcon utes, but I was under the impression that Holden was also going after people who used them as personal transport, and occasionally needed to cart some crap from Ikea or Bunnings. So we got the first ute with IRS, and they were offering options like leather steering wheel and bluetooth phone kit, but safety seemed to drop between the cracks. The ute also didn't have traction control, that would have been fairly simple to implement.

 

[Trayner]

Well, Ford went for the tradie market with its Falcon utes, but I was under the impression that Holden was also going after people who used them as personal transport, and occasionally needed to cart some crap from Ikea or Bunnings. So we got the first ute with IRS, and they were offering options like leather steering wheel and bluetooth phone kit, but safety seemed to drop between the cracks. The ute also didn't have traction control, that would have been fairly simple to implement.

Holden tried traction control in the utes , would make the computer/abs go haywire since less weight over the back wheels. And if you loaded the rear up fully etc.
They finally got it working in the Ve utes thou .

 

[axemurderer101]

Looking on rebook it looks like side airbags was a optional extra for the crewman not standard fitted.

 

[timmy201]

It's possible the Crewman was similar enough to the sedan and wagon that it didn't need a huge amount of work to fit the side airbags. Might also have had something to do with the B-pillar being significantly different. Remember, they were launched back in 2004, when side airbags were unheard of in commercial vehicles.