DURABLE DRIVE

During the 60th-anniversary expo of Mitsubishi Motors Philippines Corp. last August, MMPC president Takeshi Hara launched the all-new Mitsubishi Triton.

The pickup truck, known for decades in the Philippines as the L200/Strada, is now called the Triton which is its original name and the one being used in other countries.

The sixth generation Triton (it was in 1993 when the 2nd generation L200/Strada was first introduced in the Philippine market) is genuinely "all-new" with a redesigned ladder-chassis. It will eventually form the basis of future pickup truck models from Nissan and Renault (Mitsubishi Motors' strategic partners in a group called the Alliance, formed in 1999).

The Triton sports a newly developed 2.4-liter turbo diesel engine and a redesigned "Dynamic Shield" front face. An imposing square grille now dominates the front, with chunky squared-off wheel arches. Its large, flat hood completes the pickup truck's muscular look.

New ladder frame

For safety, the Triton sits on a new ladder frame chassis that now has a 65 percent greater cross-sectional area, 40 percent better torsional rigidity, and 60 percent better bending rigidity. The body is also lighter, thanks to its ultra-high tensile strength steel plates. All these features help the vehicle's body absorb energy and minimize cabin deformation in the event of a crash.

Enhancing the pickup truck's focus on safety are standard seatbelts and seven SRS airbags designed to provide high levels of occupant protection. For better preventive safety performance, all models of the

Triton comes with an Active Stability Control that prevents skidding and a Forward Collision Mitigation system with pedestrian detection.

The latter preventive safety performance technology is a radar-based system that automatically applies the brakes when there is a sudden reduction in the distance from a vehicle in front. This helps avoid a collision or at least reduces impact damage.

The Triton's other safety features include blind-spot monitoring, automatic high beam, and cruise control. For its higher-end variant, it is equipped with lane departure warning, rear cross-traffic alert, seven airbags, and front and rear parking sensors

As expected, the Triton has earned a maximum five-star rating with an overall safety score of 74.71 in the 2023 New Car Assessment Program for Southeast Asian Countries or the ASEAN NCAP, a comprehensive safety performance assessment for new vehicles in the region.

Five out of five rating

For adult occupant protection, the Triton received a weighted score of 32.52 out of 40, which is equivalent to five out of five stars after scoring high in the side impact crash test.

It showed that the vehicle provided good protection for an adult occupant's head, neck, chest and waist.

When it comes to child occupant protection or COP, the tests showed that Triton's second-row seats were compatible with a good number of aftermarket child seats in many mounting positions.

It scored 16 out of 16 for the COP frontal impact and side impact tests. In this category, the pickup truck received a weighted score of 17.52 out of 20.

Under the Safety Assist category, testers lauded the Triton's automatic emergency braking system and blind-spot monitoring.

The former is also consistent in detecting road obstructions and the latter able to track moving objects that were passing through the vehicle's side blind spots. These test results enabled it to earn a weighted score of 14.44 out of 20.

In the Motorcycle User Safety category (where the pickup truck and a motorcycle were put into a collision test), the Triton was given a weighted score of 10.22 out of 20. It was able to detect two-wheeled users and provide ample protection for pedestrians.

Elevating vehicle safety

A new member of the NCAP family, the ASEAN NCAP targets to elevate vehicle safety standards, raise consumer awareness, and encourage a market for safer vehicles in the region.

Mitsubishi Motors said in a statement that it remains committed to its philosophy of achieving a mobility society with zero traffic accidents through continued efforts to develop safety technologies and to spread knowledge about traffic safety.

Since its first launch in 1978, about 5.6 million units of the pickup truck have been produced over five generations.

With Triton now approximately being sold in 150 countries, it has become one of Mitsubishi Motors' global strategic vehicles and all the more made safety a big part of the main priorities of Japan's popular automobile brand.