GM has no plans to offer the Chevy Trailblazer in North America — a decision that we make out to be a real shame. But that’s neither here nor there. More to the point, however, is this photo taken at the 2012 Australian International Motor Show.
According to GM Authority reader Matt B., the man in this photo stands 6 feet 4 inches (1.93 meters) tall — and, as you can see, the top of his head is touching the boot lid of the Holden Colorado 7 (read: Australia’s Chevy TrailBlazer).
The GM Authority Take
We don’t see a problem here. The fact is that the man is (abnormally?) tall… and a little bit of crouching here and there never hurt anyone. And what would the man do if the boot in question were to a car-based hatchback or wagon, such as those that are part of the Cruze line? Having driven plenty of wagons and crossovers, we find that a slight crouch is all it takes even for someone like yours truly (who is three or four inches below six feet in height) to get under the boot lid.
So, do you consider this a flaw in design and ergonomics — or is this much ado about nothing? Vote in the poll and then sound off in the comments below!
Comments
And if they make it 4″ higher the 5′ women will complain they cannot reach it.
Then have a handle strap for them to pull on.
@62vette very good point.
No surprise, it’s designed in Thailand where the average height is over 4″ less than in Australia. (http://www.disabled-world.com/artman/publish/height-chart.shtml)
Who would have thought to check?
USAMac check your facts. It was designed globally and is simply manufactured in Rayong.
No, the car was not designed globally. Even then it has global engineering input from other R&D there must be central place where all these things come together and in this case it is Thailand indeed.http://www.caranddriver.com/news/2013-chevrolet-colorado-official-photos-and-info-news
What happens when you open it your garage? For those of us in the US, who cares? How tall is fella in picture?
The Equinox not only has an available power liftgate, but it also has an adjustable stop height, which will fix the reach concern of short people and garage height issues, not sure how high it opens up for the tall people…
Great point tjs. Chevy could probably add a few additional degrees of articulation to the 5th door to lift it higher. The power stop would keep it from smacking the garage and short people like myself (5’6″) can still access the cargo area without feeling like an umpa lumpa….
The Colorado 7’s competitors don’t have this problem. Just an extra couple of inches is enough. Have a strap hanging down for the shorter people to pull on to bring the boot door down. The Ford Territory (Australian) has a boot lid that goes up high enough for Stuart to walk under without a problem and has a handle strap that hangs down for shorter people to reach. The man in the photo is my father and my mother is 5 foot 3 and can easily pull down the boot door via the strap. Simple designs can go a long way.
That Ford Terrotiry is going bye bye in favor of a global car, just like the Falcon. And you can bet that a crossover will have its lid “too low” for some as well.
It’s a shame because Australian designed and made cars are way better than others.