[StigsIndianCuz]

Have a booked Kushaq and am set to receive the delivery in the next week or so. Cannot be happier to receive this news and am now completely assured with my choice.

[ramgkulkarni]

Man! I am so pumped. Finally, this result justifies my purchase

That apart, these results are quite a testament to the VW/Skoda commitment to safety. With the new regulations, these tests are just the welcome change these cars need.

They have been doing 2k+ cars each for the last few months. This is the shot in the arm that they needed for the Diwali sales numbers. I will be surprised if they don’t do any better than now.

The service costs are definitely something that 2.0 program has addressed. The after sales is not Maruti like but not terrible either. Lets hope their fortunes turn around in what would be a the world's 4th largest car market. (not sure if I m right here)

[fhdowntheline]

Great results in terms of numbers- but I am surprised GNCAP has not taken into account the fact that the driver dummy hits his head against the B-pillar in rebound after hitting the front airbags. You can clearly see at at 0:09 seconds and one more time from the top view. Does that not matter? How can they claim the driver's head to be well protected under the circumstances ?

[PaddleShifter]

I remember most would comment that newer VAG cars (India 2.0), namely Kushaq and Taigun dont seem well built (based on perception of door weight/thud and flex in sheet metal). The statement could have been relative (to older cars such as Polo/Vento etc) but the speculations can now be put to rest.

Well done VW/Skoda! If the long term reliability and maintenance cost is around the territory of Creta/Seltos, I see no reason to pick Creta over a Kushaq. Creta/Seltos are now the only cars in this segment that scored less and need to improve to atleast 4 star rating.

[amvj]

It is great to see that they have not skimped on safety. Now one of the reasons not buy those unsafe Maruti or Korean cars.

[bobbyblr]

Originally Posted by fhdowntheline

You can clearly see at at 0:09 seconds and one more time from the top view. Does that not matter? How can they claim the driver's head to be well protected under the circumstances ?

Also from 0:54 seconds on-wards in the Side Mobile Barrier Test - 50 km/h, the front passenger heads hits the door glass and also we can see the glass moving away from the door by few inches. I have attached the screen-shot of the video.

[shancz]

Kudos to VW/Skoda for the effort and result

This is a much needed shot in the arm for its sales and hope this translates to much better sales than they now manage.
The India 2.0 products seem to have matured quite a lot and so has their service and redressal especially after the initial hiccups.

Now its time for them to double down and iron out the minor issues too and the GNCAP score for Virtus and Slavia shouldn't be very different from this.

Finally some good news after a long time on the safety front and hope this wakes up the "giants" to put GNCAP on their radar.
Good job Skoda/VW

[W16rocks]

A great day for VAG as now they can take the fight directly to the weak point of Hyundai-Kia, SAFETY hope this acts as a catalyst to the sales of VAG cars and the 2.0 strategy works out for them as we really need such international manufacturers who focus on safety as well as style along with Driving pleasure.

Congratulations to all the VAG owners, you guys have made a great choice.

Cheers
W16Rocks

[Silent Buddha]

This is absolutely fantastic news and helps bring in many potential buyers who were earlier questioning the safety of these cars after what Kia/Hyundai have pulled out in Indian market.

I would be really happy if this translates to more sales and provides the VW & Skoda group to fix their service image as well.

On the other hand I am also equally sad that the best crossover that is being sold in our country are Creta & Seltos. I personally would not like to get an unsafe car after spending more than 10L on it. To make things worse the Koreans don't have a single car whose structure has been marked as stable

[GeeTee TSI]

Lovely results and excellent representation of the tests (video) especially some of the newer ones.
I sincerely hope people see how closely intertwined are child protection results and the right child seats. Even then the forces at play are scary.

If VAG could offer certified child seats as an accessory at the time of a customer booking after perceiving the need, it really closes the loop right from rolling out of the dealership

[pavi]

Great results. Hope other manufacturers also will be adding their entries in the 5 star rated car list very soon. Quite surprised to see that this thread has not moved to the home page still.

[ron178]

Couldn't be happier for Volkswagen. Unsurprising results, only a year too late. Could've hit the Seltos' Achilles' heel, especially when emotions were high. Also happy that this is a solid five star score with frontal performance equivalent for five stars even against the old protocols (otherwise it's now possible to compensate for a mediocre frontal impact with an excellent side impact).

The fifth child occupant star is great but not extraordinary because it was virtually impossible to score five stars for children with the old protocols, even Latin NCAP had to update criteria in Feb 2014 to make five stars feasible (Global NCAP never did).

Originally Posted by d3mon

So the Kushaq tested had no side / curtain airbags, but the Taigun did? How is it that they have received a combined rating then?

The presence of side airbags on the Taigun in the pole test had nothing to do with it being a Taigun. The side pole test is intended to be a verification test for side head protection technologies and hence must be performed on a variant with curtain airbags fitted. A Kushaq with optional curtain airbags could have been used for the pole test instead of a Taigun and it would not matter, or alternatively a Taigun with two airbags could have been used for the frontal impact instead of a Kushaq. Currently Global NCAP allows side head protection tech as optional. The Kushaq was treated as a corporate twin to the Taigun.

Originally Posted by skarthiksr

My only wish for the group is that they start thinking further and get ADAS next.

Should not be hard because the made-in-India T-Cross and Virtus for Mexico has AEB.

Originally Posted by skarthiksr

I see that the side and curtain airbags have opened up in the pole side impact test but not in the side mobile barrier test.

The side mobile barrier impact and frontal impact are the core tests that form the main score and are still performed with basic safety spec. In Global NCAP the side pole test is not yet part of the score. A side head protection device must be fitted to at least 30% of production volume for five stars and its performance must simply be verified in the side pole test: dummy readings based on head acceleration should show no hard contact and less than a 5% risk of serious, severe or critical skull fracture, and there should be no evidence of head contact with the pole based on high-speed film and greasepaint transfer.

Originally Posted by skarthiksr

And I thought GNCAP tested the base version of all cars - how does the Taigun get tested with Side & Curtain airbags then? Its base version doesn't get those.

Not anymore. The rating is now for a model as a whole and not an individual variant. The core tests are still on a variant with basic safety spec but some tech like ESC and side head protection tech (eg. curtain airbags) is allowed as optional but since their performance needs to be verified with the relevant tests, higher variants may be used.

Originally Posted by _Piyush_

The kushaq tested in this video was equipped with two airbags only so IMO the safety rating should be applicable.

The safety rating is only certainly valid for the Škoda Kushaq produced from the date of publication of the result. It is possible that if the Kushaq was assessed earlier curtain airbags would not have met the 30% fitment rate (eg. back when they had the goofup on the Style AT) and it would have settled for four stars. If production volume of curtain airbags drops below 30% the Kushaq will be audited and its rating retroactively downgraded (example).

You need to purchase the optional curtain airbags to get the full benefit of the safety rating. There is no longer a rating for each variant but if the Kushaq had 2 airbags on all variants it would have scored three stars.

Originally Posted by Karthik Chandra

Taigun and Kushaq now claim the title as the safest cars in India

As thrilling as this news is, that is not true. There is no single way to classify cars as safer or less safe. Even if we were to assume that GNCAP ratings are the single best way to quantify safety, results of many tests can only be compared within a certain class, eg. the front offset deformable barrier test favours smaller cars because it is designed to simulate a crash with a partner of the car's own mass.

Originally Posted by Ptr11s

Unfortunately, the coverage of front side airbag does not extend to the a-pillar. This is similar to the Carens as shown above.

Technically speaking it is not an excuse but I would cut Volkswagen some slack compared to Kia; the coverage of the curtain seems similar to the European one (I suppose it is understandable because the T-Cross is not intended for North America anyway unlike the SP2 Seltos which is).

Originally Posted by fhdowntheline

Great results in terms of numbers- but I am surprised GNCAP has not taken into account the fact that the driver dummy hits his head against the B-pillar in rebound after hitting the front airbags. You can clearly see at at 0:09 seconds and one more time from the top view. Does that not matter? How can they claim the driver's head to be well protected under the circumstances ?

Contacts during rebound usually do not register as hard (>80g) in which case the head is awarded maximum points in any case. This is standard across all the FIA NCAPs. Only the IIHS has a separate section for dummy kinematics and they penalise contacts during rebound (they also use a more demanding 70g as a reference for a hard contact).

I hope Toyota and Honda sponsor the Hyryder and City in response (I'm expecting the Virtus next)

[Col Mehta]

Well done VW/Skoda!!

As an owner of 2015 VW Vento, I was (still am) very disappointed to see those inferior interiors and multiple issues with their cars. But oh boy! This is a brilliant news! I wish Hyundai/Kia offered cars with such safety ratings. Our new Creta, though very plush and nice, scored poorly and that will remain as one of its major negatives.

[amrit_bareta]

Congratulations to Skoda, Volkswagen Group as well as to all Skoda and vw fans for such a great achievement. The two VW cars in our garage make me proud once more.

[RRU]

Although neither of the duo/cousins is in my watchlist for upgrade given the cramped rear seats, headroom (from my perspective) and unreliable after sales service, these German cars were always reassuring for their build quality and attestation of 5* rating just puts an official stamp. Quite commendable and good for consumers. I wish leaders, such as Maruti-Suzuki and Hyundai-Kia duo, learn a few lessons and make safety a priority. Unless safety is imbibed by these mass market producers as a necessity and not an option (Maruti used to reserve airbags, ABS and EBD only for top trims) or is of secondary importance compared to features, such as tech (like we look for in mobiles), HUD or unsafe sunroof and so on, or mileage, it will remain elusive to us. Hope they take cognizance of this outcome and challenges posed by TATA and Mahindra on safety (4/5* are given).