The Indian-market Datsun GO and Maruti Suzuki Swift have received zero-star safety ratings in the Bharat New Car Assessment Program (Bharat NCAP) programme – Global NCAP announced these ratings in Delhi, India, at the launch of the Indian-based NCAP, which is the tenth NCAP to be formed around the world.
The GO and Suzuki Swift – tested in the second round of the programme – sold in India are not equipped with airbags, Isofix anchorages or, for that matter, ABS. They however aren’t the only cars to be zero-rated in terms of adult occupant protection.
In January, Global NCAP published crash test results for five of India’s best-known cars: the Suzuki Maruti Alto 800, the Hyundai i10, the Ford Figo, the Volkswagen Polo and the Tata Nano. All received zero-star adult protection ratings. Following the results, Volkswagen decided to offer the Polo for sale in India with two airbags as standard, and the model subsequently received a four-star safety rating.
In testing, the vehicle structure of the Datsun collapsed in the frontal offset crash test (64km/h). Its lack of airbags meant that the driver’s head made direct contact with the steering wheel and dashboard, and the dummy readings indicated a high probability of life-threatening injuries. The failure of the body shell makes fitting an airbag redundant in the GO, Global NCAP says.
Meanwhile. the Swift’s structure showed signs of collapsing in the same test. The lack of standard-fit airbags meant that the driver’s head made direct contact with the steering wheel. Again, the dummy readings indicated a high probability of life-threatening injuries, but unlike the GO, NCAP says that the fitting of airbags would improve occupant protection.
The poor result for the GO brings the discourse that came about earlier in the year between Nissan and NCAP back to the surface. In response to the poor results obtained from the first round of tests on the Indian-market vehicles, the automaker’s then chief planning officer, Andy Palmer, was reported as saying in Autocar that it was “absurd” to apply European or US crash test standards to cars in emerging markets, and that people who advocate this were “living in a dream world.”
This prompted a response from Global NCAP’s chairman, Max Mosley, who wrote to Palmer, who has since left to become the CEO of Aston Martin. In the letter, Mosley drew Palmer’s attention to the unacceptably low standard of safety offered to consumers in Latin America by the Nissan Tsuru.
Mosley also suggested that Nissan strategists look at the approach of other manufacturers in emerging markets by giving consumers the basic safety equipment they need in entry level vehicles – wonder if the automaker will do so now, with the GO faring as it has.
The Datsun GO was unveiled in India in July 2013 – pricing for the five-door hatch, which is assembled in Chennai, begins from below 400,000 rupees (RM21,210). The car is also slated for Indonesia – it was shown at the IIMS in Jakarta last year alongside the GO+ MPV, which has already made its market debut, as the GO+ Panca.
