THERE is nothing more demoralising and heart wrenching than returning to your car and finding a myriad of dints and scratches marring your pride and joy.
Enter the Citroen C4 Cactus compact SUV. The car that is set to break the curve, with the inclusion of its new innovative Airbump panelling to its SUV line. Now the C4 Cactus has emerged from two days of torture, with close to 100 trolley strikes and 5000 rounds of paintball pellets pummelling the vehicle’s exterior.
The baptism of fire demonstrated this technology’s aim to rebuff the most common and infuriating damage that afflicts vehicles across Australia in the most real-world way possible by replicating one of Australia’s most arduous environment; the shopping centre car park.
In a constructed 2m trolley run, the Cactus’ Airbumps backed up for continuous punishment, strike after strike, even when subjected to one extremely violent strike. Able to withstand the impact of a shopping trolley travelling at up to 4km/h, the Citroen Cactus’ Airbumps proved their ability to withstand repeated strikes, both for dents and scratches.
But if a shopping trolley wasn’t enough, the testing phase escalated with a barrage of paintballs being hurtled at the new SUV. At an average weight of approximately 4 grams, over 5000 paintballs were fired at the Citroen Cactus at average speeds of 330km/h. The only damage sustained was a cracked tail lamp and a broken grille badge, despite the target being the Airbumps.
With the roll out of the C4 Cactus this month, if Airbumps were adopted by other leading manufacturers, this innovative technology will have both consumers and insurers alike smiling all the way to the bank.
