Despite it being a mid-size crossover utility vehicle with five seats and a cavernous trunk, the 2017 Renault Koleos weighs less than the subcompact-sized Opel Ampera-e. And in contrast to the electric vehicle, the second-generation Koleos gets five stars from the Euro NCAP for its crashworthiness.
Also known as the Samsung QM6 in South Korea, the Renault Koleos is all-new from the ground up. Based on the CMF-CD platform of the Nissan X-Trail, the family-oriented vehicle doesn’t come with knee airbags, not even optionally. This is the reason Euro NCAP rated protection to the driver’s right tibia “marginal” in the rather violent front offset deformable barrier crash test.
As for the full-width rigid barrier test, this sort of crash exposes the “marginal” protection offered by the Koleos II to the head and chest of the rear passengers. On the upside, the crossover offers “good” whiplash protection and comes as standard with an autonomous emergency braking system. In percentage points, adult occupant protection has been rated by the organization at 90%.
Moving on to child occupant protection, measurements the 10-year-old crash test dummy indicated “poor” protection for the neck in the front offset test. For 6-year-old children, deceleration data measured by the dummy suggests “weak” protection for the chest. Alas, the Koleos II scored a so-so 79 percent.
When it comes to pedestrian protection, results were good and adequate, with the exception of the stiff windshield pillars. Pelvis protection is a mish-mash of good and poor ratings depending on the angle of the crash and the dummy’s weight and height. The auto-brake system? Renault didn’t design it for pedestrians, the reason why the Koleos scores zero points for AEB protection.
The Euro NCAP tested the 1,623-kilogram Koleos 1.6 dCi in left-hand drive configuration, with the five-star overall rating applying to all variants of the crossover. The X-Trail, which was tested three years ago, also prides itself on five stars.
After a 1:43 scale model of a Ferrari 250 GTO sparked Mircea's interest for cars when he was a kid, an early internship at Top Gear sealed his career path. He's most interested in muscle cars and American trucks, but he takes a passing interest in quirky kei cars as well. Full profile
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