SOLID

A 'solid' car, the result of top quality construction. This is basically the second winning feature of Fiat Grande Punto, which takes a great leap forward in the compact class, confirming Fiat's unquestioned leadership of this category. It is the fruit of a 'robust' project, which set three precise goals from the start: maximum safety, maximum enjoyment at the wheel and the best quality of life on board.


These goals have been achieved in full, because from the very first stages of the planning process the Grande Punto pursued very high quality standards and adopted a very severe engineering process based on a solid platform. This same severity was applied to all stages of the development and industrialisation of the model, applying the most advanced, innovative reliability methodologies. Extensive road tests were also carried out, for a total of 4.5 million kilometres. In the end, the enormous amount of data collected and the experience gained, have helped to increase Fiat Auto's expertise and to establish a strong starting point for the development of future models. It is clear that the new car represents a further step forward in the striving for quality, a value that we find in the Melfi plant, which plays a leading role in the entire process; thanks to cutting edge technologies that can ensure the best quality and safety standards for the new model, and the complete recycling at the end of the car's life cycle of all the materials used to build it.


But quality and reliability are not only expressed in numbers. We form important impressions by looking at and touching the passenger compartment of a car, observing the details, sitting on the seats, gripping the steering wheel, and assessing the appeal of the environment and the quality of the furnishings and finish. This is known as the 'perceived quality'. The judgement that emerges is the combination of a thousand different elements: from the shape of the objects to the materials they are made of, the individual colours and the way they combine, and our tactile sensations. And these stimuli all contribute to an equal degree to determining the final perception. This is why the engineers working on the Grande Punto project focused at length on every single detail, with a care and attention that is unusual in this market bracket.



The best safety in its segment

Fifteen thousand hours of calculations, 60 crash tests, one hundred simulations with a Hyge sled and two hundred tests on components and subsystems. These numbers underline the commitment that went into making the Fiat Punto one of the safest cars, not only in its segment but in the entire world car market, since the model represents the state of the art where passive safety systems are concerned.


Total protection, starting from the specific safety features: up to 7 airbags, two of which are of the Multistage type (six are standard on the Dynamic and Emotion specifications); three-point seat-belts with pretensioners and load limiters, five head-restraints and the FPS fire prevention system. The chassis is also new, designed specifically to absorb impact more efficiently. And the bodywork, the bonnet, the doors and the facia crossbeam all play their part in protecting occupants. Nor must we forget the contribution in terms of passive safety from elements such as the seats or the steering column, which were designed taking into account their behaviour in the event of an accident.



The Smart 2 Airbag system

Complete protection, intelligent protection. In the event of head-on impact, occupants are protected by an innovative restraint system known as the 'Smart 2 Airbag', because it is able to adapt the activation parameters automatically to the severity of an accident. Starting with the two front airbags for the driver and passenger, which have a new, different functioning logic. Until now, when the airbags were activated, they have always inflated simultaneously and up to their maximum size, which was established to safeguard occupants during the most serious impact.

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