Popular Indian cars fare badly in crash tests

Earlier this week, we reported that the Indian Government was going to make it mandatory for samples of all new cars to be crash tested. Before that, Global NCAP has gone ahead and carried out independent crash tests of some popular Indian-built hatchbacks. Entry-level variants (without airbags) of each car were crashed at 64 kph and tested for adult as well as child occupant safety. The results were nothing short of shocking. None of the cars tested managed to score even one star for adult occupant safety.

The Hyundai i10, Maruti Suzuki Alto 800 and Tata Nano, all had inadequate structural integrity. The structures of these cars collapsed to varying degrees, resulting in life-threatening injuries. In fact, the structures were found to be so poor that fitting airbags would not result in a better performance.

The Ford Figo and Volkswagen Polo managed put up a better performance when it came to structural integrity. Fitting airbags would improve their score substantially. A Polo fitted with airbags was crash tested as well. It managed to score four stars for adult occupant safety.

All vehicles were subject to a 56 kph crash test as well to check if they meet the UN’s basic safety requirements. This 40% offset frontal impact test has been made mandatory in all UN member states. Major manufacturing regions like Australia, China, the European Union, Japan and Malaysia have applied it. India, however, has refrained from doing so. Coming to the results, all cars except the Figo and the airbag-equipped Polo failed.