In yet another case of popular cars in India not meeting international safety norms, Maruti-Suzuki’s Swift, which has been the country’s best-selling car for the last few years and Datsun GO of Nissan failed crash tests conducted by the Global New Car Assessment Program (Global NCAP), showing high risk of life-threatening injuries.
These latest tests follow a series of tests conducted in January where several Indian-made cars failed a standard crash-test conducted by Global NCAP, an umbrella body of consumer car safety testing bodies. Shockingly, both cars failed the crash tests with a ‘Zero Star’ rating for adult occupant safety. This is primarily due to the fact that both cars do not offer driver and front passenger airbags as standard in India.
“These risks would be significantly reduced if the cars had to comply with the UN test regulation for frontal and side impact,” Global NCAP said in a statement. As per its test, Global NCAP said Maruti-Suzuki Swift “scored zero stars for adult occupant protection and just one star for child occupant protection. The Datsun GO from Nissan also scored zero stars for adult occupant protection and just two stars for child occupant protection.”
These results are in line with the tests conducted in January where the Maruti-Suzuki Alto, Hyundai i10, Ford Figo, Tata Nano and Volkswagen Polo failed the test. Volkswagen subsequently put airbags as standard fitment in the Polo which then received an acceptable ‘three-star’ rating. However, what is galling is that the latin American export version of the Swift also manufactured at the Manesar factory received a ‘three-star’ rating as governments in those countries have made airbags mandatory.
Even more appalling is the fact that the European model of the Swift made in Hungary which uses the same steel and body-shell as the Indian-made car scored the top ‘five star’ rating in the European NCAP test. The versions of the Swift and GO tested were mid-range models anonymously bought from showrooms in India and shipped to Germany.
Editor, Auto, of news network NDTV, Siddharth Patankar who witnessed the tests told The Pioneer that these results were shocking and that he hoped that this would spur the Government into taking prompt action. “We have received positive indications from the Ministry of Road Transportation and Highways and they have admitted that India is far behind the curve when it comes to passenger safety. There is talk of instituting an India-specific NCAP test soon and making airbags and other safety features such as Anti-lock Braking mandatory on new cars,” Patankar said.
Airbags are only offered as an option on the top variant of most small cars sold in India and that too at a significant premium. Versions with airbags often cost as much as Rs 50,000 more than the non-equipped models even though the airbags themselves are estimated to cost between Rs 3,500 to Rs 12,000 each. Indian carmakers have used the excuse of higher prices and affordability to not equip small cars with airbags as standard.
Almost all small cars sold in Europe, where the European NCAP rating is used by carmakers to sell cars to a safety-conscious public, have airbags in them. In some countries such as Australia additional active safety features such as Electronic Stability Programs where the computer controls the car and prevents it from going out of control in most circumstances, have become mandatory.
“The Swift’s vehicle structure showed signs of collapsing in the crash and was rated as unstable. The car’s lack of standard-fit airbags meant that the driver’s head makes direct contact with the steering wheel - the dummy readings indicate a high probability of life threatening injuries,” Global NCAP said, adding the test was conducted at a speed of 64 kmph.
Regarding Datsun GO, the Global NCAP said: “The Datsun GO’s vehicle structure collapsed in the crash and was rated as unstable. The car’s lack of airbags meant that the driver’s head makes direct contact with the steering wheel and dashboard. The dummy readings indicate a high probability of life-threatening injuries.”
The failure of the body shell of the GO makes it redundant to fit an airbag. However, unlike the GO, in Swift fitting with airbags would improve occupant protection, Global NCAP said. When contacted, Nissan said its Datsun GO meets the required local vehicle regulations in India while no comments could be obtained from Maruti-Suzuki.