Is the company refusing to submit vehicles for crash testing?
Even though U.S. production of the Think City started off well the other day, all is not fine in Think land. Apparently, and this is all based on Google Translate versions of news stories, the brakes on the City electric car can weaken under "extremely humid conditions." The issue is that water can get into the brake servo pump and force the driver to, "use more force to stop the car." New models are not affected, but around 800 cars throughout Europe have been recalled for repair, James Andrew of Think Europe told NRK (Google Translated). That repair means wrapping the pump circuit in an epoxy, which then "solves the problem fully," Andrew said. We've driven the City in wet conditions and have never experienced this problem.
In a related story, Think has apparently not provided City vehicles to the European crash testing organization EuroNCAP, according to VG Net (Google Translated), the first time in the organization's 13-year history that a car manufacturer has refused to crash test a car for any reason. EuroNCAP needs three vehicles to crash, but Think reportedly said it could not spare the vehicles. EuroNCAP CEO Michiel van Ratingen told VG Net that, "We believe that Think may be a borderline case to safety" (again, that's a machine-translated quote). Think's Jan Brent Bråten told VG Net that this is all a big misunderstanding, adding, "We have not refused to supply cars, but we wanted to know how the tests should be carried out before we joined."
We're awaiting comment from Think on this matter and will update the post when we hear back.
*UPDATE: Think clarified the situation for AutoblogGreen and it does appear to be a case of mis-translations and things being blown out of proportion. A Think representative told us that the brakes do not fail, but that, "Major, prolonged exposure to water could cause a small malfunction in the electronics. The brakes would still work, but required increased pressure to use." The situation was identified in the summer and only affects 850 cars in Europe.
As for the crash testing, Think will send vehicles to EuroNCAP in early 2011. As Think said, "We are of course supplying the vehicles. There is no story there."
[Source: NRK, VG Net (both Google Translated)]
In a related story, Think has apparently not provided City vehicles to the European crash testing organization EuroNCAP, according to VG Net (Google Translated), the first time in the organization's 13-year history that a car manufacturer has refused to crash test a car for any reason. EuroNCAP needs three vehicles to crash, but Think reportedly said it could not spare the vehicles. EuroNCAP CEO Michiel van Ratingen told VG Net that, "We believe that Think may be a borderline case to safety" (again, that's a machine-translated quote). Think's Jan Brent Bråten told VG Net that this is all a big misunderstanding, adding, "We have not refused to supply cars, but we wanted to know how the tests should be carried out before we joined."
We're awaiting comment from Think on this matter and will update the post when we hear back.
*UPDATE: Think clarified the situation for AutoblogGreen and it does appear to be a case of mis-translations and things being blown out of proportion. A Think representative told us that the brakes do not fail, but that, "Major, prolonged exposure to water could cause a small malfunction in the electronics. The brakes would still work, but required increased pressure to use." The situation was identified in the summer and only affects 850 cars in Europe.
As for the crash testing, Think will send vehicles to EuroNCAP in early 2011. As Think said, "We are of course supplying the vehicles. There is no story there."
[Source: NRK, VG Net (both Google Translated)]
