The results of the latest round of crash tests conducted by Global NCAP under its #safercarsforIndia program are out. In this round, four made-in-India cars were selected: the Maruti Suzuki Wagon-R, Hyundai Santro, Datsun Redigo and Maruti Suzuki Ertiga.
Global NCAP conducts its crash tests at 64 Kmph and ratings are given on a five-star scale. The Indian government has now made safety features mandatory in cars including at least a driver’s airbag, ABS, seat belt reminders (SBR) for both front seats, speed warnings and reverse parking sensors.
Car manufacturers like Maruti offer dual airbags usually on the top-end variants of its budget segment products only, while the base models get only a single airbag just to comply with the safety norms. Here’s how these four cars fared in the latest tests.
Maruti Suzuki Wagon-R: 2 Stars
The Maruti Suzuki Wagon-R launched in January 2019 is built on the new Heartect platform and is supposedly a much safer vehicle than the previous generation car. Global NCAP, which picks up the base variants of cars from the market, tested this car recently.
It scored two stars for adult occupant protection and two stars for child occupant protection. The variant tested came only with a driver's airbag. Global NCAP points out that its structure was rated as unstable, while the footwell area risked injury to a driver’s legs. Head and neck protection was adequate. It scored poorly for child occupant protection because the child-restraint system broke during impact.
Hyundai Santro: 2 Stars
The Hyundai Santro, which was launched in October 2018, is an all-new car that carries the Santro badge forward. Its platform is based on the Hyundai Grand i10. Just like the Wagon-R, the Santro also offers a driver airbag only as standard on the base variant, while the higher models get two airbags.
The Santro also got two stars for adult occupant protection and two stars for child occupant protection. The Santro also seemed to have an unstable footwell structure, while head and neck protection for adult occupants was good. Child occupant protection was poor as it did not have a child restraint system.
Datsun Redigo: One Star
The Datsun Redigo comes standard with only a driver airbag, while the top-variant gets two airbags. The Redigo scored only one star for adult occupant protection and two stars for child safety.
Global NCAP says the car’s structure is unstable. While head protection was adequate for driver and good for the passenger, chest protection for the driver was poor, which could lead to life-threatening injuries. It does not get inertia-reel seatbelts at the rear, which made it difficult to fit a child restraint system in the car, but still it managed to score two stars for child occupant safety.
Maruti Suzuki Ertiga: Three Stars
The latest-generation Maruti Suzuki Ertiga, launched in November 2018, is also built on the company’s Heartect platform. It scored three stars for adult occupant protection and three stars for child protection in the Global NCAP tests.
The Ertiga comes with two airbags as standard. The overall structure of the car was borderline according to Global NCAP, which can easily be improved. The passenger seatbelt pretensioner failed to work properly during the test says Global NCAP. The Ertiga offers ISOFIX fixtures for child seats as standard, helping with its three-star rating for child safety.
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