What the Passat also delivers and should be lauded for is a full array of airbags on each and every model sold in the U.S. Other manufacturers need to wake up and smell the cappuccino on this one. Vehicles designed with families in mind shouldn't short-change those families when it comes to safety - and in the U.S. the Passat doesn't. Unfortunately in Canada, only the GLX and W8 models receive the full array of airbags.
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| Passat delivers a full array of airbags on each and every model sold in the U.S., but not so for base GLS models in Canada. (Photo: Rob Rothwell, Canadian Auto Press) |
All 2004 Passats sold in the U.S. are equipped with driver and front passenger frontal airbags, driver and front passenger side airbags and side curtain airbags for those in the rear seat. Inexplicably, in Canada side curtain airbags are only standard equipment on the GLX and W8 models - and optional on the GLS. C'mon Volkswagen, are Canadians more crash-proof than their southern counterparts?
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| Tally up all of the Passat's safety features and it becomes a chart-topper in terms of safety and crash avoidance and crash worthiness. (Photo: Rob Rothwell, Canadian Auto Press) |
Regardless of whether sold on American or Canadian soil - all five seating positions in the Passat wagon are equipped with seatbelt pretensioners. Load limiters are included on all but the rear middle seating position. Tally up all of the Passat's safety features, including the 4MOTION technology, and it becomes a chart-topper in terms of safety and crash avoidance and crash worthiness. Criteria family buyers are well aware of these days - and quite justifiably so.
Buyers are also well aware of value when it comes to the second most expensive purchase in their lives, just behind their homes. In this regard the Volkswagen Passat offers tremendous value, but not at bargain basement prices like some vehicles emerging from the shores of Korea, such as the Hyundai Santa Fe and the Kia Sorento.