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.
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How appropriate to name as Datsun GO with the below. The failure of the body shell makes fitting an airbag redundant, Global NCAP say
Hope those models will not be on sale in Malaysia.
Its RM 21k per car! You can save RM 2900 than buying Axia lowest spec! Why don’t we want this car in Malaysia?!
I bet Datsun GO using Nissan Japanese technology engine would have better FC. That’s like the second most important thing in a car, first of course being timing chain.
So it’s RM 3000 between being alive and being so dead your mum won’t recognize your corpse? Thanks, but I’d rather have the 4 star Axia than a 0 star Go.
Though I do sense some sarcasm in your post, in that case, I agree.
I sense sarcasm all the way. haha
He’s making a jab at the people who consider japanese reliability, cheap and fuel efficiency above all else.
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What smoking you bro?
maybe smoking pot… hahaha
what he said just words,
all those crash test prove how its performed during car accidents.
all those iron n steel talks, hahaha
its how it is design. no matter how much iron u put on the car, if the design is a flaw, it always a flaw and dangerous.
yeah, maybe the body from iron and steel..
because of its too strong, the impact effect inside the cockpit.
what we need is strong hardened cockpit,
and weaker front and back so they can absorb the impact first before intruding the cockpit.
this Rahman guy love car rather than his/family’s lives
You are right Rahman. Made in India cars are the hardest in the world especially the one drove by the Bollywood & Tamilwood heros in their movies.
– sarcasm –
He’s clearly being sarcastic!
wow!
so engineering!
much homologen!
blink blink!
While there are probably some hardy cars from India, I doubt Datsun GO and Maruti Swift falls into that category.
Indians (in India) life is cheap.
It’s a fact. Stop denying…
Lol…you sir, are an idiot….. that’s all..
Rahman. You are very much out of date. Go to youtube and you will be surprised the whole purpose of crash rating is to protect the occupant, not the car. Watch this video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qBDyeWofcLY
What’s important is that the passenger survives the crash, not the car. What use is it if the car is fine but the passengers are dead?
Also, stop smoking pot.
Datsun GTHi (GO To Hell iMmediately) edition.
Hmm…the child occupant protection seems to indicate that the child (if any) at the back would have a chance of surviving while the adult would likely be chunked by the steering wheel. An orphan maker. So sad.
hi india, its 2014, not 1964
Isn’t it more like Hi Nissan/Datsun?
What I don’t get is why they don’t just make the Dacia Sandero for the Indians. It too is a very, very affordable car, more spacious, and much safer. Why did they have to develop such a PoS when they already had a perfectly fine cheap car?
Cars with no airbag?
It might happen in Malaysia very very soon.
Don’t just say no airbag…
Sooner or later, brand new cars with no seatbelt at all could be allowed to sold in Malaysia by only one distributor here (but definitely not our national carmaker).
Justification: If ‘this’ car distributor have nerve to omit stability control where their previous generation have, it’s not surprising at all that they can sell cars with no seatbelt too one day for the name of ‘extra’ profit margin. However, they don’t need to worry about poor sales as still many ‘dumb and idiot’ customers will buy them even with no seatbelt because of it’s ‘awesomely good’ resale value (plus many drivers in Malaysia also no need to use seatbelt when driving on the road).
OMG. Swift has no star at all!! How could that be?
No airbag, and perhaps lesser materials, less materials and fewer/less hot weldings.
Carlos Ghosn is not going to be too pleased….
On a side note, just look at the Swift bending, looks similar to the Myvi bending in the Asean NCAP. Interestingly in the Asean NCAP, the bending Myvi got a higher 3 star score compared to the non bendy Hyundai i10…. Its worse when the A pillar bends, cause it means your body shell has just collapsed and the whole dash is being directly hurled at you.
If I remember correctly, the rating for NCAP doesn’t take into account body shell deformation but, instead, measures the forces or damage experienced by the crash test dummy during the crash. This kinda makes sense, if you think about it, since the point of the test is to try to gauge the severity of the injury experienced by the occupant. A well designed body shell but a poorly designed interior with lots of sharp pointy bits jutting out to injure the occupant in a crash should not receive a good score.
That is true, but the thing is, Euro NCAP also sees how much a safety shell has deformed, cause a deformation will indicate the doors cannot be opened, leading to a poorer score.
Side note, same interior was used for the Euro tested i10.
The main thing is how the dummies are affected. Additional points are given to how easy the doors can be opened, but the main thing is how your survival chances are. These cheap cars do without airbags at all, and that explains the poor rating. VW got from 0 to 4 stars with the Polo just by adding 2 airbags, Proton got from 1 to 3 stars by adding 2 airbags.
Btw., if you look at how important the frontal airbags are, where there is plenty of space between car and passengers, just imagine how important side and curtain airbags are! So please, only buy a car that does have side and curtain airbags. It makes a big difference.
That is true, but the thing is, Euro NCAP also sees how much a safety shell has deformed, cause a deformation will indicate the doors cannot be opened, leading to a poorer score.
Side note, same interior was used for the Euro tested i10.
Cost of being cheap in Asia…
Why kzm you say being cheap. You always say Asia is the best. Always talk about Thailand, Indon and Brunei.
Now you say cheap?
when i say that? u dont need to lie to make ur point u know.
bang, masih lagi pakai tongkat?
Slander at its best. He really never said Asia is best but that when comparing Malaysian car prices with that of other markets, comparing with other ASEAN countries is more logical than comparing it with the Western countries. That’s why he more frequently brings up Thai and Indon, since they’re the ASEAN countries with the most active auto industries.
Asia or to be precise ASEAN always get lowest spec for safety..
How about the polo sedan? Ours is mainly from india isnt it?
The Malaysian version recieved four stars:
http://www.aseancap.org/volkswagen-polo/
Something we should proud of.. PROTON CARS is far better than Nissan Go in safety!
Can paultan.org do more research and find out if the Swift’s poor rating is just down to the lack of airbags?
I see on carbase.my that the Swift has 4 star rating with 2 airbags.
Or is the body shell for the Indian market different?
india suzuki lowest variant oso lack ABS and EBD
Noted. The 4 star rated test was achieved with 2 airbags & ABS but no stability control.
Reading another source says that the Malaysian-spec Swift is different from the Maruti Suzuki Swift. The Malaysian one is built to a higher standard, and if you check the ASEAN NCAP site, it has a 4-star rating. Better than MyVi.
see..i read somewhere in other blog,
stated that ford ecopsport for india got less stars for safety.
it also told that more that 200ish parts need to be altered/mod if that ecosport needs to enter euro market, for safety purpose.
is datsun go comes to my?
is our swift chassis same as indian’s?
‘Maruti’ suzuki swift is indian assemble. its different from our CKD swift and japan swift. and europe swift.
“Obviously” & “suden” can you tell me where you found this information? It is very interesting that Suzuki would do this considering the engineering effort needed to design and manufacture different body parts.
It could be that the body shell is the same (if you look at the ASEAN NCAP video, it shows similar deformation between Maruti Swift and Malaysian Swift), but the lack of airbags and ABS contributes to its lower score. This is just speculation on my part.
Where are those that blindly believe with brands? Still believe that Japanese cars brand will make you feel they are better built?
You get what you paid for.
india,,where the government thinks is better to,spend money on nukes that kill people than building enuff toilets so that its plebes dont shit in the streets.
Its shameful that the giy think thatnits absurd to make safe cars for india is hired by Aston Martin.
This is an opportunity for Proton to market their Iriz there since Iriz got 5 star ASEAN NCAP
We might not be able to sell much in India.
Like they said, India is an emerging market like most of smaller ASEAN, meaning the number of buyers for high price products is still increasing but not high enough.
We might have to CKD Iriz, use Indian local parts, and remove EBS, airbag, and other things to reach profitable margin. If not, we won’t be able to pay the Indian workers locals we would hire.
pls sell them here in Malaysia!!! im pretty sure with cheap affordable price, they will sell like hot cakes…
Janji nama ada bunyi Jepun !
Sadly, I have to agree. At RM 21k the Datsun GO would sell like hot cakes. >.>
It might even outsell Axia spec E.
An we complain that Malaysian cars lack safety? Wow…
At least they are honest with it.
Unlike Korean, they lied public regarding safety rating, EPA results, sales report!
And yet you all dumb people protects them!
All Koreans are cheaters !
Show reports please.
Datsun go to h3ll
Proton should enter the Indian market and save millions of Indian lives every year.
second that bro
they need to learn how to make diesel engine first
No need. Buy from other company can.
Really now Malaysians should be thankful to Proton producing cars without compromising safety aspect and educating Malaysians about car safety specs (active and passive specs). Imagine if no Proton around, those coffin will be sold here and people will buy them without any idea about the impact, and what those coffin would affect them.
I wish it were so. However the Axia spec E booking speak for themselves. I’m optimistic that Malaysians in time will learn themselves on importance of safety, as I’m told that rakyat is smart oredi. :)
In a country where most ppl couldn’t even afford a bicycle, selling cars are really tough. hence, to leverage on the selling price, the cars must be built with the most cost saving materials in the shortest possible time. This is why the Go and the Swift for India are like that. The build quality is just too different.
The Datsun GO is RM 21k
The Daihatsu Axia spec E is RM 23.9k
Basically we are in the same boat as India.
It can’t be helped, as you said, both India, and Malaysia, we have a large low income group aka. emerging market.
The Axia is a much safer car though. It would easily pass this test with 3 or 4 stars.
wow..when Iriz got 5 star.. “Safety is outdated, FC is todays concern”
Ini adalah kereta daripada China. Tak nampak pun update ini di sini. Kalau dari Malaysia/India/Korea semua kutuk n ckap jgn jual kat Msia. Tapi sepatutnya kerata China perlu di Ban di Msia.
http://www.drive.com.au/motor-news/chinas-crashtest-flunky-20101021-16v6c.html
Now I know why named Datsun GO.
Once “langgar” you can GO straight
Datsun Go Die.
Dear Sir,
My suggestion is on the topic of safe vehicle standards in India with ref to artilce published in news papers and web sites , ref below.
This is about Global safety standards for automobiles in India.
https://in.finance.yahoo.com/news/auto-industry-body-ncap-defends-132012472.html
My suggestions are as follows which will settle matter once for all for safer vehicles of Global standards in India .
What India needs to realize are following,in terms of regulations for automobiles.
-One is regulation affecting others i.e. other than the individual using automobiles.
-Another is regulations affecting the individual who is making choice of a particular four wheeler for his own use.
I will talk about very briefly about both categories,
1. Affecting others i.e. Public at large: In this category vehicular emissions and crash safety of public transport comes in to consideration. Govt regulations are required for these category of vehicles as no individual / owner will make a safe choice if not regulated. Therefore Govt must issue regulations for stringent emission controls for all type of vehicles and crash safety for public transport vehicles to make sure that occupants are safe.
2. Affecting Individuals: In this category the crash worthiness / crash safety of four wheeler’s used for private transport comes in and obviously taxis etc are not included in it. In this category let the market decides that buyer makes an informed choice and purchases safest vehicle or less safe vehicle depending upon his capacity to pay. Let the market decides on choices and market forces the manufacturers to sell their vehicles as per buyer’s choice. In such cases no regulations are required to be issued by the Govt. In today’s world there are credible agencies which certifies vehicles as safe vehicles and give star ratings as per their test standards like Global NCAP, Euro NCAP, USA NCAP, Japan NCAP etc. Any vehicle having high star rating in , let us say Euro NCAP may still be having lower rating in Global NCAP and hence may be unsafe. It is the user/ consumer , who should decide the star rating and type of NCAP as per his own assessment. In Indian conditions there may be still sizable population who may not be able to afford very high rating safe cars , let them make an informed choice as is being done for energy efficient star ratings for consumer products. There are other examples as well, like ISI marked safe electrical products wherein non ISI marked product are also sold and consumer makes an informed choice of buying ISI marked product , or cheap product without ISI mark or takes product of very reliable branded manufacturer depending upon his paying capacity. When it is allowed for all other items affecting our day to day living then why not same principle is allowed for automobiles as well.
In future market itself will determine the cost component and choices of people towards safer vehicle, as an Automobile having less safety ratings may require to pay more insurance premium than the one having higher ratings. This way market will stabilize towards safer vehicles.
As per my understanding therefore safety standards in India need not be regulated by Govt for this category of users.
For other category of users and automobiles, yes stringent norms are required which shall be promulgated without any delay as it involves public safety.
This will also strengthen Govt. resolve of more Governance and less Government . Any way publishing safety tests of automobiles has already educated and spread awareness to Indian consumers as shown by trends of sale of vehicles across manufacturers in India.