Quote:
Originally Posted by Bibendum90949 hi Ron, I couldn't comprehend the above part. If a model in a manufacturers line up constitutes to 30% of their volumes, they've to have side head airbags to qualify for 5 star ? Is that what you meant? |
No, it means that at least 30% of the sales volume of that particular model must be fit with a side head protection device (like a curtain airbag) in order to be eligible for a five star rating for adults. In addition, the performance of the device must be verified using an old version of a Euro NCAP lateral pole test conducted at a Global NCAP accredited lab.
What I meant is that Škoda could make curtain airbags available on the Slavia only on the Style variant, and if the Style variant makes up at least 30% of the Slavia's sales volume it would still be eligible for a (late*) 2022 five star adult rating (of course, this is only if its performance in the front and side impact turns out good enough for that rating).
Personally, I think they should go ahead and make it standard regardless of the 30% fitment rate or even if the Government mandate gets delayed.
(*they still have a publication left under the current protocol (it was supposed to be in late January but I don't know what happened) so the new protocol will only be introduced in July 2022)
Latin NCAP from 2016-19 required the model to have a head protection device as standard to achieve five stars. Global NCAP for (late*) 2022 has adopted an assessment protocol very similar to 2016 Latin NCAP, however they made some changes which include a minimum fitment rate for head airbags required to score five stars instead of requiring them as standard. That is why you will find that equivalent Volkswagen models in Latin America had six airbags as standard (VW and Toyota never settled for anything less than five for new models) but in India even newly launched models only have them as optional.
Fitment rates are model-specific and are not related to the rest of the manufacturer's fleet.
Just as an example of how fitment rates work, until 2019, Latin NCAP had a minimum fitment rate for ESC to qualify for an ESC test. Take, for example, the Renault Sandero. It had ESC as optional, but the sales volume of ESC was too low for it to be eligible for an ESC test, so its score was limited to three stars since an ESC test was another prerequisite for four stars.
The purpose of including non-100% fitment rates in the evaluation is to give credit for optional safety systems, especially for systems which would greatly increase the entry price for the model if made standard. However it is important to have a minimum sales volume of the system because manufacturers would otherwise greatly overprice the optional system and very few consumers would buy it, making it unfair to give it credit. For example, they would definitely not want to give the VW Polo an extra star just because the GTI version had curtain airbags, hence the minimum % sales volume.
Fitment rates are also important because they mean that manufacturers will then engineer the model to be able to accommodate the system while also not increasing the entry price for the model (as would be the case if the requirement was for them to be standard) so that there will be no problem making it standard in the future instead of waiting for another whole product cycle just because the current generation model has not been developed to fit that system.
Due to discounts from safety equipment suppliers for higher OEM purchase volumes, in many cases, manufacturers will find it cheaper to buy the extra airbags or ESC modules in bulk and make them standard instead of, say, meeting an 80% fitment rate.
This also means that a car of standard safety specification will be used for the front and MDB side impact but the pole test and ESC test will be done on a car that has the optional ESC or head airbags and hence higher safety equipment than the basic variant. The rating will then be not only for variants with basic equipment but for the model as a whole. While the rating will likely still show the basic specification (eg. Kia SONET - 2 AIRBAGS), a version with six airbags may have been used for the pole test, which if you ask me is kind of misleading for consumers so they should ideally stop putting the number of airbags along with the model name or a consumer might think a model passed the pole test with just two airbags.
Note that the fitment rates are dynamic, i.e., they change every year. The GNCAP expects that the manufacturer will increase fitment every year and eventually make the system standard.
Here are the requirements for
five stars:
And here for
four stars:
It is important to note that a car can also lose stars if it is found that the fitment rate no longer meets the minimum sales volume. Expect a flurry of aggravated consumers no longer being able to brag about the star rating their car holds, or buyers accusing the GNCAP of misleading them.