Indian versions by the mangle
With the Safer Cars For India campaign, the Global NCAP has been committed for years to improving the standard safety features of cars sold in India. In a new test round, Global NCAP smashed four basic versions of models supplied in India, resulting in not exactly best scores for Suzuki.
Global NCAP has for the second time subjected a series of cars supplied in India to its new crash tests. This time four cars had to go through, with only one getting good scores. The Mahindra Scorop-N earned five NCAP stars in adult occupant safety. Child safety was rated with three stars.
The Mahindra Scorpio-N scores very good results!
The three other automotive candidates scored significantly worse. That trio comes from Maruti Suzuki, the Indian branch of Suzuki. Global NCAP smashed the Maruti Suzuki Ignis, Swift and S-Presso and the Swift managed to come out the least badly. The Maruti Suzuki Swift scored one NCAP star for adult occupant safety and child safety was also rated one star. The Maruti Suzuki Ignis and Maruti Suzuki S-Presso received only a single star for adult occupant safety and none for child safety NCAP.
The Suzuki S-Presso didn’t rake in a single NCAP star in 2020…
To be clear, the Maruti Suzuki Ignis and Swift are not directly comparable in terms of equipment to the European-delivered versions of those cars. The Suzuki S-Presso was already tested by Global NCAP in 2020, then with only a driver’s airbag. During that round of testing, the S-Presso failed to score a single NCAP star. The S-Presso – just like the three other recently tested models – does have two airbags as standard. That now earns the car one NCAP star.
…and with two airbags as standard is not good for a much better score.
The Mahindra Scorpio-N has two airbags, ABS and ESC as standard. In particular, the fact that the Scorpio-N has no three-point seat belts in the rear cost him points. Incidentally, the model tested by Global NCAP had curtain airbags, although they are not standard. The three Suzukis each have two airbags and ABS, but no ESC or curtain airbags. The cage construction of the trio was also found not to be strong enough in frontal collisions.
Alejandro Furas, Secretary General of Global NCAP congratulates Mahindra on his score, but says he is very concerned about Maruti Suzuki, which has a huge market share in India. Saul Billingsley of the FIA ​​Foundation involved in the crash tests says Suzuki shows “contempt for the safety of Indian drivers, passengers and fellow road users”.
In 2014, a series of Indian test results at Global NCAP went horribly wrong. In one series of crash tests, the Tata Nano, the then current Hyundai i10, the Ford Figo (Ka+), the Maruti Suzuki Alto and the Volkswagen Polo all received zero or only a single star. The Tata Nexo was the first car from an Indian manufacturer ever to achieve five NCAP stars. With the #SaferCarsForIndia campaign, Global NCAP wants to denounce the often lousy standard equipment of cars sold in India.
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– Thanks for information from Autoweek.nl