29th Jan 2002, 19:59

I sympathise with you in your accident, but I must bring light to the airbag 'failure' you made mention of. The airbag mechanism is only designed to activate in a frontal collision and if the collision is greater than a designated speed. If you refer to your owner's manual, it clearly states there the correct operational conditions of the device.

Yes, it is loosely advertised that an airbag is meant to protect the occupant in case of a collision, but automobile manufacturers unfortunately don't go into detail of design specs.

The failure of the seat belt mechanism does sound very worrying indeed.

10th Feb 2002, 06:42

Yeah, although I know what you mean, but what sort of accident was it though. I had a crash in a VX HSV GTS and one of the air bags didn't work on driver's side and the seat belt failed as well (it's shattered as well). I was lucky to walk out, but I tell everyone I was travelling at speeds of above 240km hours when I hit a tree that split the car in half nearly. The matter of the fact is that these cars aren't designed for speeds like that, even if you were at 120km hr and that other car is travelling at 120km, no car, especially the Japanese cars stand a chance (240km hr impact). Holdens are heaps safer than Toyota and are designed for Australian roads, no offence, but I would prefer to have a crash in a Commodore than a Toyota Camry or Avalon.

16th May 2002, 14:53

I don't understand how a seatbelt can shatter, what actually happened, did the buckle fail?

30th Jun 2002, 03:29

Just regarding the comment about travelling 120 km/h and 240 km/h in a VX GTS etc. and having an accident, it wouldn't matter what type of car (or truck for that matter!) you were in because 9 times out of 10, you'd be history - regardless of whether you're in a Japanese car an Aussie car!!

12th Sep 2002, 03:35

Well I own a 96 VS Commodore and I have had no problems with it at all. Holden are by far the best vehicle I have ever been in.

29th Oct 2007, 04:01

Aussies with their Holden Commodores and/or Falcons buy these cars and don't look beyond because for one the Police force use these cars. They must think "if the coppers drive these things then they must be good". What they fail to realize is that the Australian Police are most probably obligated to use/buy these Aussie brand cars. They certainly aren't the best cars on Aussie roads, no way, no how!

I have no desire to own a Commodore, or Falcon. Ever. Especially with a big V8 under the hood. Sure, they may have more "street cred" than any Japanese car, or any 4 cylinder car for that matter. But these big Oz cars are shameful dogs, they drop in value like a stone and the build feels dangerously cheap. And in the very temporary times I happen to drive them, I don't feel safe at all. They are just overpowered bombs and beasts, a horrible accident waiting to happen (especially in the hands of young idiots who like to max it out at top speed).