“Are those ‘holey’ things under the doors vent-type thingies or just aesthetics? I wonder if they might also be foot holes, rather than a ledge? if so, presumably they will be able to take the weight of an adult?”
GOOD QUESTION, MARK and since Crawf couldn’t give us a definitive answer, we passed your enquiry through to Tyson Bowen at Citroen.
So, the simple answer is, no, they’re not vents or steps, but they do have a practical application. According to Tyson, they are fitted to protect from damage to the lower doors from rocks, gravel and from opening the door onto object you cannot see.
Tyson explains, “They are not load bearing (i.e. designed to support someone standing on them) and they are not deep enough for steps.”
And while we had Tyson answering questions for us, we also asked about the C5 Aircross safety rating.
As we suspected, it hasn’t been ANCAP tested, but like many cars imported from Europe, the Aircross has been subjected to testing under the EU ANCAP protocol. It scored five stars in Euro NCAP testing when fitted with the safety pack (in Europe pedestrian detection must be part of the autonomous emergency braking system for a vehicle to rate five stars). Without the safety pack, the Aircross was rated at four stars.
The Aircross is fitted with essential safety equipment including AEB, active blind spot monitoring, active lane keep assist and more, as we detailed in our launch story, which you can find here.