Global NCAP Crash Tests - Should they influence your car purchase?

‘Over 1.5 lakh people lost their lives in road accidents in 2018, with over speeding being the most common reason for casualties,’ a Government report said. An accident might have taken place somewhere even while you are reading this. Across the 199 countries reported in the World Road Statistics in 2018, India has unfortunately topped the list, with China and the US trailing behind. 17 people die every hour in road accidents in India.

We often blame the poor quality of roads and people’s carelessness while driving to be the only reasons for the casualties caused post the accidents. However, we tend to ignore the cars that are involved in fatal crashes. A major misconception amongst people is that a car cannot avoid a crash or save people after an unfortunate event. Each car based on its chassis’ structural rigidity and safety features it offers, behaves differently during a crash. While some cars manage to save all the passengers, some are left completely unidentifiable and often even split into halves!

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 The Global NCAP (New Car Assessment Program) serves as a platform for cooperation among new car assessment programmes across the globe, promoting the universal adoption of the United Nation’s most important and stringent motor vehicle safety standards worldwide. Global NCAP conducts car crash tests and road safety tests based on real-world conditions and situations. A front offset crash test is designed and conducted, simulating a head-on collision between two cars. The car is programmed to be driven at 64 km/h and made to hit a deformable barrier with a 40% overlap. A side mobile barrier test is also conducted for some cars.

Most middle-class car buyers in India, especially first-time buyers, consider mileage and features as their top priorities while buying a car. After all, we Indians always want a value-for-money product. However, these buyers get carried away with the value-for-money factor some cars offer and go ahead with the decision, ignoring the car’s safety features and safety ratings (if any).

Maruti Suzuki, the leading car manufacturer in India, denied sending its cars for any kind of testing after Global NCAP challenged several carmakers including the market leader to manufacture safer cars. This has not come across as a surprise, considering most of their best-selling cars have failed to secure a good safety rating previously at Global NCAP. The Maruti Alto, Tata Zest and Mahindra Scorpio achieved disappointing results, scoring zero stars for adult occupant safety. What is worth mentioning is that the entry-level variants of the three cars were crash tested, which did not offer any safety features. The Maruti WagonR and Swift scored just 2 stars for the same. The Maruti Ignis and Maruti Ertiga scored 3 stars, however, Global NCAP stated that their body shell was unstable after the crash.

Image Source: Autocar Professional

Image Source: ET Auto

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The only exception from Maruti Suzuki has been the Vitara Brezza, which scored a surprising but respectable 4 out of 5 stars when it was crash tested in 2018. Other Indian cars to achieve this rating were the Tata Zest, Tata Nexon and the Volkswagen Polo. Maruti Suzuki backing out from Global NCAP's challenge is not only a matter of shame but also a safety concern. Being the leading car manufacturer in India, it should lead from the front, accept the challenge and manufacture safer cars.

Image Source: Team-BHP

However, I feel proud to state that Tata Motors and Mahindra have been setting great benchmarks, making much safer cars of late. The Tata Zest scored 4 stars when it was tested for the second time with dual airbags in 2016. Tata Motors, however, had no plans to stop there and their mission to make safer cars had only begun. On December 2018, Global NCAP conducted a crash test for the Tata Nexon again, when a side-impact crash test was also conducted, after which the Nexon’s body shell and structure remained stable. This, along with the inclusion of seatbelt reminders for both the driver and the passenger helped the Nexon achieve a complete 5-star safety rating, making it the first car from an Indian manufacturer to do so.

Tata Nexon Crash Test- Image Source: Indian Autos Blog

                                                    

In January 2020, Global NCAP crash-tested the all-new Tata Altroz, which secured a 5-star rating as well, scoring marginally more points than the Nexon for both adult and child occupant protection, adding another feather to Tata Motors’ cap. Shortly after, Mahindra joined the party too, after the XUV300 was crash tested by Global NCAP, not only managing to secure 5 stars but also scoring more points than the Nexon and the Altroz for both adult and child occupant protection. In February 2020, The XUV300 received the ‘Safer Choice’ Award. This is an accolade given to manufacturers achieving the highest levels of safety performance for cars made and sold in India. Mahindra had impressed us earlier with the Marazzo in December 2018 when it scored 4 stars on the crash test. Since then, people's hopes for Mahindra to offer safe cars have been high and saying that they have not disappointed us would be an understatement.

Image Source: ET Auto

Image Source: Autocar India Forum

Other carmakers like Volkswagen and Ford consider safety as one of their main priorities and their cars like the Volkswagen Polo and the Ford EcoSport have scored 4 stars each in their respective crash tests.

Image Source: Motorbeam

Although factors like fuel efficiency and electronic gimmicks are important and worth considering during a car purchase, these should never come at the cost of safety. Although most Indians follow the herd mentality, rarely focusing on safety while purchasing a car, there is still a significant chunk of people that are aware of the facts and keep safety as their top priority. Tata Motors has won people’s trust with the impressive safety records their cars have secured and people have started moving towards Tata cars off late, something which we had not expected a decade ago. Mahindra will be worth looking forward to as well with the Marazzo and XUV3OO shining at GNCAP.

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It is about time we start considering a car's safety rating before purchasing one. Blaming car manufacturers will not help improve the situation because at the end of the day, they only make what sells the most and in India, safety doesn’t sell as much as fuel efficiency and gizmos. This can change only if we shift our priorities to carmakers that prioritize safety.