Global NCAP Fails 7 Indian Cars In Crash Test

Global NCAP has released the result of all the seven cars which went through a third round of crash test. Sadly enough all the seven cars -- the Renault Kwid (three variants), the Maruti Celerio, the Maruti Eeco, the Hyundai Eon and the Mahindra Scorpio have been awarded a zero star in the safety rating. Only one variant of the Kwid had a driver side airbag while the rest were without the safety feature. All the cars scored two stars in child protection, except for the Celerio which received just a star.

The last round of crash test took place in 2014 when the Datsun Go, the Maruti Alto 800, the Maruti Swift, the Tata Nano, the Ford Figo and the Hyundai i10 scored zero star while the Toyota Etios and the Volkswagen Polo received four-stars in safety. The results were discouraging and the third round was expected to yield better results. Let's have a closer look at each of the car's performance.

Renault Kwid (I)

Three Renault Kwid models were tested in this round. The first car was the one which has been on sale in the country since its launch. Renault had proposed that Global NCAP should also test an updated evolution of the Kwid which has been in production from early April 2016. The car was tested without and with an airbag and was termed as Renault Kwid (III).

NCAP Result: The protection offered to the driver’s head and chest was poor, while the passenger’s chest received marginal protection. The passenger’s knees could come in contact with dangerous structures present within the dashboard. The bodyshell was rated as unstable and was declared incompetent of withstanding any further loadings.

Renault Kwid (III)

This is the car in which Renault has added structural reinforcements. Though, the reinforcements were only added to the driver’s side and not to the passenger side which renders the passenger devoid of any safety in the event of a crash. This car did perform better than the older version of the Kwid, but still was rated as unstable as the older model.

NCAP Result: The result was similar to the one received by the Kwid (I), although, it was confirmed that Renault had added reinforcement in the structure, but only on the driver’s side.

Renault Kwid (III) (Driver Airbag)

The structure of this car is the same as the Kwid(III). The airbag resulted in high compression in the dummy chest area, which led to the low score.

NCAP Result: The protection offered to the driver’s head and neck by the airbag was good. However, the protection to the chest due to high chest compression was poor and the passenger’s chest received marginal protection. The passenger’s knees can possibly come in contact with dangerous structures in the dashboard. The bodyshell was rated as unstable and can not withstand further loadings. It was confirmed that Renault added reinforcements in the structure, but only to the driver’s side.

Mahindra Scorpio

The cabin of the Scorpio collapsed in the crash, and hence it has been awarded a zero star. This means that there is a high probability of life threatening injuries to the driver, or the front passenger.

NCAP Result: The protection offered to the driver’s head and chest was poor and the passenger’s chest received marginal protection. The passenger’s knees could impact with dangerous structures in the dashboard. The bodyshell was rated as unstable and unable to withstand further loadings.

Suzuki Maruti Eeco

The Eeco’s cabin also failed to maintain rigidity after the crash. The deformation was so severe that even the addition of airbags is not likely to help avoid life threatening injuries to the driver.

NCAP Result: The protection offered to the driver’s chest was poor and the head protection was weak. The passenger’s knees could impact with dangerous structures in the dashboard as well as the shock absorber mounts. The bodyshell was rated as unstable and can not withstand further loadings.

Hyundai Eon

Eon’s cabin structure was also deemed unstable and the lack of airbags led to the zero star rating.

NCAP Result: The protection offered to the driver’s head was poor and for this reason the star capping was applied to Driver’s chest protection was deemed  poor.Passenger’s chest protection was marginal. The front passenger’s knees could come in contact with dangerous structures in the dashboard. The bodyshell was rated as unstable and it was not capable of withstanding any further loadings.

Maruti Suzuki Celerio

The cabin of the Celerio was better than the rest amongst the lot. But the loss of airbags in the car has led to the zero star result. Also, this is the only car in this lot which has scored one star in the child safety, one less than all the others.

NCAP Result: The protection offered to the driver’s head neck and chest was poor and the passenger’s chest received marginal protection. The passenger’s knees could impact with dangerous structures in the dashboard. The bodyshell was rated as unstable and can not withstand further loadings

This is a sad news for the Indian automotive industry. Not only have Indian cars failed miserably before, this round has been majorly disappointing. We sincerely hope that Indian automakers start to offer cars with better structural rigidity and safety features so as to increase the chances of a safe escape in the event of a crash.

Also Read: Baleno Scores 3-star Rating in Euro NCAP Crash Test