Nissan Navara safety score raised

The Nissan Navara's adult protection rating has been upgraded from one star to three by safety organisation Euro NCAP.

The move follows changes to the pick-up's airbag deployment and seatbelt pre-tension systems, which were retested shortly after the original results were announced last month.

The new software that controls the airbag and seatbelt pre-tension systems is available on all new Navaras. Current Navara owners are being invited to take their cars for a safety check-up at a Nissan dealer, where software changes will be made as necessary.

The child protection rating has also been improved from three to four stars, as a result of Nissan making more information on the car's safety systems available.

Dr Michiel van Ratingen, secretary general of Euro NCAP, said: 'Nissan has acted responsibly and promptly in response to our findings.'

Nissan has also pledged to make further safety strides with the Navara, after Euro NCAP's original tests highlighted a chassis weakness.

A Nissan spokesman said: 'You can't change chassis design overnight, but our engineers are already poring over the Euro NCAP data to see what they can learn.'

Asked whether Nissan felt aggrieved that it had endured so much bad publicity for the one-star score, when it had already supplied Euro NCAP with a revised car for testing, the spokesman said: 'We were open about the car being retested, and we had pulled out all the stops to put a fix in place.

'We feel it would have been of more benefit to consumers if Euro NCAP had released the results of the retested car, or at least made it clear that the studies of the retested car were already underway.'