Global NCAP crashed into three cars in South Africa: the Great Wall Steed 5, Renault Kwid and Haval H1. All three cars are disappointing, but the Great Wall takes the cake with a score of 0 stars. According to the organization, the scores are alarming.
A score of 0 stars in an NCAP crash test in 2020? The organization said four years ago that this shouldn’t actually happen anymore. Yet it is again hit: in South Africa the Great Wall Steed scored 5 0 stars. The pick-up has no airbags, the structural integrity is labeled ‘unstable’ and the report further shows that the driver in particular is at risk of life-threatening injury during a crash. According to Global NCAP, the result is all the more worrying because pick-ups are very popular in Africa. In 2018, the Nissan Hardbody, which is in the same segment as the Steed 5, also achieved a 0-star rating. Unlike the Great Wall, the Nissan does have airbags, but apparently that makes no difference to the end result.
Global NCAP is also not satisfied with the Renault Kwid and the Haval H1. Both cars scored two stars, whereby the structural integrity was also found to be ‘unstable’. In 2016, the Kwid scored 0 stars in India, but Renault has since improved the safety of the model. The South African version of the Kwid has also achieved three stars, because it also has side airbags. The Haval H1 has two airbags, but performs slightly worse in the test than the Kwid. Both cars also receive two stars for the protection of children. The Great Wall Steed 5 only gets to one star in that area.
Marginal result
Global NCAP’s African crash tests are part of the Safer Cars for Africa campaign, which has been running since 2017. The aim of this is ultimately to make the vehicles safer on the African market. That campaign is therefore not over yet, taking into account the most recent results. “These results are cause for concern,” said Willem Groenewald, director of the Automobile Association South Africa. “Since the first results in 2017, we have been calling for an improvement of safety standards by the government. These results reaffirm that this must be done quickly.”