Stellantis Accused of Discrimination After Ram Pickup Gets One-Star Safety Rating

The poor result is blamed on the unstable structure, unstable foot-well area, differences between the seats of the single- and double-cab variants, poor-performing side airbags that showed “incorrect deployment,” and lack of safety gear.

As a result, the Ram 700 / Fiat Strada single-cab was ‘awarded’ with 47.47% in Adult Occupant protection, 22.08% Child Occupant protection, 40.23% Pedestrian protection, and 41.86% for the Safety Assist. The double-cab got 41.39%, 52.96%, 40.23%, and 48.84% respectively.

“With such a popular model in the region, we can only denounce Stellantis for this practice of discrimination against consumers in Latin America and the Caribbean,” Brodziak said. “We know that Stellantis produces cars with very high safety standards, but given the poor performance shown in Latin NCAP’s Fiat Strada / Ram 700 test, we can see that it is incurring in the pernicious practice of double standard to the detriment of not only of the occupants of these vehicles, but of the population in general and in the degradation of the vehicle fleet in the region.”

“Fiat (FCA) once again disappoints with this poor result after the appallingly low performance of the Argo / Cronos from last year," added Latin NCAP’s Secretary General, Alejandro Furas. “These two models are among the most popular ones in the region. It is a concern that global parts-suppliers are still offering restraint systems without the robustness expected in Latin America for the tested scenarios of Latin NCAP, unlike what they do in other markets like Europe, US and Australia.”

According to the safety specialists, there are relevant differences in the seats of the two body styles, with those in the double-cab showing ‘good’ protection, whereas those in the single-cab offering ‘poor’ protection. Also, the side airbags, which are standard in the former, do not do their job as intended, and their performance is a concern for Latin NCAP, which spoke of “a high probability of life-threatening injuries in the side pole impact scenario.” Latin NCAP compared them to those of the Renault / Dacia Logan / Sandero / Sandero Stepway. Performance in the Child Occupant protection was ‘good’ overall, yet the final score was affected by the lack of i-Size anchorages and marking.