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ROADTEST TOYOTA HIACE

30th November 1989
Page 52
Page 52, 30th November 1989 — ROADTEST TOYOTA HIACE
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aspects of their forward-control layout; criticism that stems largely from the work done by Volkswagen and the German TIN institute, equivalent of our Transport Road Research Laboratory (TRRL), in 1985. In tests a number of forwardcontrol vehicles were found to be lacking in the passenger safety department, and this class of vehicle presents designers with a unique set of safety problems.

Controlled deceleration is the best way of ensuring passenger safety in a crash. In the head-on impact test requited for European passenger car type approval, a bonneted vehicle has a considerable amount of bodywork as well as the engine and ancilliaries to act as shock absorbers and slow the rate of deceleration. Foward control vans have very little in front of the driver to absorb the impact.

To prevent a catastrophic deformation of the front body, and the passengers, some forward control vans are now being fitted with strong longitudinal beams under the floor. The Toyota has Y-shaped beams which extend to the very front of the van to take the full impact of the vehicle in a frontal crash. But if the beams stop the vehicle dead when it hits something, then surely the passengers will be subject to the full deceleration force, with potentially unpleasant results. To mitigate

this effect, the new Hiace has a simple crumple-zone incorporated into the front panel of the vehicle.

Toyota says that the revamped Hiace van is as safe as a passenger car in a front end crash, and the public relations blurb for the new van speaks about a new steering column that will not catapult "into the interior like a lance". Does this imply that previous models had less acceptable levels of safety?

More sophisticated EC safety tests may soon be on their way; a crash test into a suspended block, for instance. While we can only commend efforts to build more reality into these tests, there is little point in building a vehicle able only to pass a standard crash test. Real accidents happen in the most bizarre circumstances; vehicles hit the weirdest things; they have to be safe in all conditions.

Apart from the safety modifications, the new Toyota has what its makers claim is "modern curvy styling". No coefficient of drag is quoted, but the van certainly looks smoother. Perhaps more importantly, it looks less like the archetypical Japanese panel van. The Toyota still complies with Japanese width limits, but it manages to look wider, and more the result of a European stylist's pen. Practical benefits include a useful increase in load volume from 5.6m to 5.8m, thanks to a 95mrr increase in the wheelbase, and a 3Ornrr increase in the rear track. The sliding side door opens further too.

• DRIVEUNE

The petrol and diesel engines are new fot the van; the four-cylinder diesel is stil using a pre-combustion chamber, or indirect injection system. The naturally. aspirated all-square diesel displaces 2,446cc. It has an overhead camshaft with a toothed belt drive. Power output is roughly the same as before at 55kA (73.75hp), but torque has been increase from 156Nm to 162Nm.

The gearbox has five speeds, all synchromesh. Toyota has changed the position of the gearlever on the new vehicles. Instead of a column change the lever sprouts from the front of the engine tunnel. It is not exactly the floor change it is claimed to be, but it is better than in the previous position. A standard propshafi takes the drive to the rear wheels. The rear suspension is live-axle design supported with semi-elliptic leaf springs, and damped with hydraulic telescopic units.

At the front the familiar torsion-bar suspension is beefed up with lower control arms and an anti-roll bar. Hydraulic telescopic dampers are fitted here too.

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