[ron178]

The Australasian New Car Assessment Programme has given the new Suzuki Swift a 1-star safety rating based on a combination of crash-testing locally in Australia and by Euro NCAP.

With just 47% for adult occupant protection the new Swift was left with a 1-star rating even though other categories including ADAS performed better.

ANCAP found structural and restraint system differences from the European version, which caused trouble like excessive pedal intrusion in the frontal offset crash test (same issue as the previous-gen Indian version) and excessive compression to the ribs of rear adult passengers in the full-width test. Although ANCAP usually shares Euro NCAP results, Suzuki could not demonstrate that the Australian Swift was identical to the European model and it had to be tested independently.

“Earlier this year ANCAP was informed of physical differences between locally-supplied Swift models and those supplied in Europe so we conducted a range of additional crash tests on local vehicles and found some areas of concern.”

“In comparison to the three-star rating achieved by Swift vehicles sold in Europe, vehicles sold in Australia and New Zealand performed differently when crash tested.”

Performance variation was seen in the frontal offset and full-width crash tests, with higher chest loads and leg injury risk (excessive pedal movement) to the driver in the frontal offset test, and a significantly greater rear passenger chest compression measurement recorded in the full-with test which exceeded allowable limits. Protection of the chest – a critical body region – was therefore assessed as Poor and the score capped, resulting in 0 points awarded for this test.

“The design of some of the structural elements and restraints in locally-sold Swift vehicles appear to lack robustness leading to variation in crash performance,” Ms Hoorweg said.

https://youtu.be/vm6cs7QCKg8?si=4GFVggfbCMgMu33C

Meanwhile the Kia EV5 and new Toyota Prado were given five stars.

Toyota Prado and Kia EV5 deliver top safety performance, while vehicle performance differences hamper Suzuki Swift — ANCAP

[d3mon]

Thanks Ron. Any idea if this is objectively a worse performance than the Dzire in the GNCAP?

[ron178]

Originally Posted by d3mon

Thanks Ron. Any idea if this is objectively a worse performance than the Dzire in the GNCAP?

Not a single test is common between GNCAP and the latest Euro NCAP/ANCAP as far as I know, so it is impossible to say. However it is objectively worse than the LHD European market Swift tested by Euro NCAP.

[lemedico]

https://youtu.be/zGG-HYuNKos?si=T2Aj2QtxXUm17ndc

I've said it on a different thread before, and I'll say it again:
A strong, safe car with great mechanicals like the tank like built Mercedes' of the 90s, and plenty of other good cars from today will score zero stars just because they don't have a particular ADAS or pedestrian safety gizmo. Whilst they do a stellar job of keeping the car's occupants safe in a crash.

Just read through the comments in this video. Most of them echo what I'm frustrated about.
I wonder what the lady drives for herself?!

[ron178]

Originally Posted by lemedico

A strong, safe car with great mechanicals like the tank like built Mercedes' of the 90s, and plenty of other good cars from today will score zero stars just because they don't have a particular ADAS or pedestrian safety gizmo. Whilst they do a stellar job of keeping the car's occupants safe in a crash.

Not sure I'd say stellar...this was the W202 C-Class in the first ever Euro NCAP tests:



Staying on topic though, I completely agree. Condensing so much stuff into a single star rating causes a lot of information to be lost. Thanks for the link to the video, it should be an interesting watch.

[JunkyardHunter]

I feel like we need to keep a star score barring ADAS and a star score with ADAS. So basically how many stars the car scores in structural rigidity. keeping occupants safe etc without ADAS rearing it's head, and how much it scores keeping ADAS in mind. This would give cars like the ScorpioN a fighting chance in ANCAP.

[Ptr11s]

Originally Posted by JunkyardHunter

I feel like we need to keep a star score barring ADAS and a star score with ADAS. So basically how many stars the car scores in structural rigidity. keeping occupants safe etc without ADAS rearing it's head, and how much it scores keeping ADAS in mind. This would give cars like the ScorpioN a fighting chance in ANCAP.

ANCAP gives score percentages for each category. Don't except a very good ANCAP score even with ADAS for the Scorpio(N).

*AUS/NZ spec Swift
**Scorpio(N) Z8/Z8L

The Scorpio(N) was designed for getting good rating in less demanding GNCAP protocols. Even to get a good rating in new GNCAP and BNCAP protocols all variants need to have 6 airbags which Scorpio-N lacks.

[W.A.G.7]

All said and done, I believe that in India; only your defensive driving, staying alert, and using your discretion is the key to thank your own stars! (pun (?) not intended but it is the reality) There, in the situation, it won't matter if your car has scored 1 star of 5 stars in all of these evaluation programs. Hence, nowadays I don't really bother about all these star ratings.

[ron178]

Suzuki Swift still a sales hit despite poor crash rating — Stuff

A sobering crash test score hasn’t seemed to do the Suzuki Swift any harm in New Zealand, with registrations so far being much the same as those accrued this time last year.

The 427 registrations for January and February is a similar sales progress to the commensurate period of 2024. Rental operators are also continuing to take some of that action; accounting for 102 of those registrations.

How well this is known could be a matter of conjecture. While many new car brands with products that receive strong ANCAP results do tend to highlight these on sales cards, this is not mandatory.

Swift sales cards seen by MotoringNZ.com do not have the ANCAP score, but instead highlight efficiency ratings in star counts.

At the time of ANCAP’s decision, Suzuki New Zealand’s chief executive Gary Collins said all he could do is ask the maker if improvements can be delivered, in hope the car can in time be re-tested and do better — and hope the parent in Japan will react.

Source: Stuff Magazine