The Nissan Townstar is a corporate twin to the Renault Kangoo Van and this rating is based on tests performed on the Renault. That vehicle is available as a small people-carrying MPV and, as tested here, a small cargo panel van. The panel van shares a lot of safety equipment with the passenger version. The autonomous emergency braking (AEB) system uses camera+radar fusion technology to detect other vehicles and vulnerable road users such as pedestrians and cyclists. Performance is excellent when approaching a stationary or slower-moving car, with collisions avoided in almost all of Euro NCAP’s test scenarios. The system performs equally well whether the target vehicle is straight in front of it or offset to one side or the other, and there is good reaction in the scenarios where a vehicle turns across the path of the approaching van. With a pedestrian target, the system performs well in most scenarios, with no deterioration in night-time conditions, but has no detection of people to the rear or response when turning into the path of a pedestrian. The van performs well in all scenarios involving a cyclist.

The lane support system includes lane departure warning, which signals to the driver when the van is drifting out of lane, and emergency lane keeping, which intervenes more aggressively in certain critical situations to prevent the van from leaving the road. The system performed well in all tests and includes blind spot monitoring to help the driver not to pull out in front of an overtaking vehicle.

The Nissan Townstar uses a camera and digital mapping to identify the local speed limit and provides the information to the driver, allowing the limiter to be set accordingly. The limiter is able to maintain the set speed to within 5 km/h.

A seatbelt reminder is standard for the driver and front passenger seat. Unlike other similar vans, the Townstar does not have driver fatigue detection.