Five-star safety for Mitsubishi Triton

MITSUBISHI’S new Triton one-tonne utility has attained a five-star ANCAP crash rating after the recent round of new model testing by the independent safety body.

The five-star rating is applicable to all Triton Dual Cab model grades, in 4x2 and 4x4 variants.

Though not a given, a five-star rating was unsurprising for the Triton as it was engineered to pass the latest – and most stringent – 2024 ANCAP protocols.

The favourable result means new gen Triton is the first dual-cab ute to attain a 2024 five-star ANCAP safety rating.

The chunky newcomer was noted by ANCAP as having an extensive airbag array with dual frontal, side chest-protecting and side head-protecting airbags and a driver knee airbag as standard.

A centre airbag, which provides added protection to front seat occupants in side impact crashes, is also standard.

The model also features advanced active safety systems such as Autonomous Emergency Braking (Car-to-Car, Vulnerable Road User, Junction and Back-over) as well as a lane support system with lane keep assist (LKA), lane departure warning (LDW) and emergency lane keeping (ELK), and a speed sign recognition system as standard, all key standard equipment that supported the five-star rating.

The Triton scored 89 per cent for Child Occupant Protection, 86 per cent for Adult Occupant Protection, 74 per cent for Vulnerable Road User Protection and 70 per cent for Safety Assist.

Many “takeways” emanate from the Triton’s ANCAP test some listed below.

For Child Occupant Protection the Triton generally rated strongly only being slightly marked down in two of four areas: restraint installation that scored 11.03 out of 12 points and on-board safety features that scored nine out of a possible 13 points.

The Triton dual cab is fitted with lower ISOFIX anchorages and top tether anchorages on the rear outboard seats but installation of child restraints in the rear centre seating position of the dual cab is not recommended as there is no top tether anchorage.

A child presence detection (CPD) system is not available.

Type A capsules could not be correctly installed in the rear outboard seating positions using either the seatbelt or the ISOFIX anchorages. Installation of child restraints in the second-row centre seating position is not recommended as there is no top tether anchorage.

For Adult Occupant Protection across the seven areas assessed the Triton only dropped appreciable points for frontal offset protection scoring 5.63 points out of 8.0, full width frontal protection scored 6.02 out of 8.0 with all other areas assessed close to top marks.

The passenger compartment of the Triton remained stable in the frontal offset (MPDB) test. Protection of the driver’s chest and lower legs was deemed adequate, while protection was good for all other critical body regions for both the driver and front passenger.

A Rescue Sheet providing information for first responders in the event of a crash is available and a multi-collision braking system is fitted. The Triton’s doors remain functional for the minimum required time if submerged though window opening functionality was not demonstrated.

On the Vulnerable Road User front, the Triton dropped points for adult, child and cyclist head protection attaining 12.16 points out of 18 and for AEB pedestrian forward protection 5.4 points out of a possible 7.0 with the same test for “back-over” rating only a weak 0.5 out of a possible 2.0.

The Triton’s bonnet provided a mix of good and adequate protection to the head of a struck pedestrian over most of its surface, with poor results recorded on the stiff windscreen pillars and front edge of the bonnet surface.

Good protection was provided for the pelvis, the femurs, and the lower legs. The autonomous emergency braking (AEB) system can detect and reacting to vulnerable road users such as pedestrians, cyclists and motorcyclists.

Performance in reverse (AEB back-over) scenarios was limited to slower speeds with a stationary pedestrian and was assessed overall as weak.

Performance was good in AEB cyclist test scenarios with collisions avoided or mitigated at all test speeds, including in turning scenarios. The AEB system fitted to the Triton can detect and responding to motorcyclists in forwards travel scenarios and mixed performance was seen.

Turn across path motorcycle tests were not conducted as the Triton is not fitted with a system capable of performance in these scenarios.

AEB cyclist protection was down a touch at 7.0 out of 9.0 as was AEB motorcycle functionality at a weak 1.21 out of 6.0.

On the Safety Assist front as already mentioned, the Triton is fitted with AEB and a lane support system (LSS) with lane keep assist (LKA) and emergency lane keeping (ELK) functionality, and blind spot monitoring (BSM).

Tests of the AEB (Car-to-Car) system showed good performance with collisions avoided or mitigated in all test scenarios, including in AEB Junction Assist scenarios where the test vehicle can autonomously brake to avoid crashes when turning across the path of an oncoming vehicle.

However, the AEB system does not react when crossing the path of another vehicle or in AEB Head-On scenarios, and these tests were not conducted.

Tests of lane support system functionality showed good performance, including in the more critical emergency lane keeping test scenarios. A speed assistance system (SAS) with speed limit information function (SLIF) is standard, with automatic variants having intelligent adaptive cruise control (iACC) and manual variants using intelligent speed limiter (ISL).

A direct driver monitoring system (DMS) is fitted as standard the system warning the driver if drowsiness or distraction are detected, adjusting the vehicle sensitivity (lane departure warning and forward collision warning) accordingly.

“Safety is always a priority for Mitsubishi Motors,” said MMAL CEO, Shaun Westcott.

“To be the first Dual Cab Utility to achieve the stringent 2024 five-star ANCAP safety rating is testament to this and proves how serious Mitsubishi is about safety.”