The Global NCAP (New Car Assessment Programme), recently gave the Hyundai Santro a 2-star safety rating, based on its crash tests. The NCAP agency carried out the crash test at a speed of 64 km/h on the driver airbag variant of the Santro, after which the bodyshell integrity of the car was declared as unstable. This variant of the Santro was equipped with safety features such as ABS and SBR (Seat Belt Reminder). The Hyundai Santro comes under the 5-door hatchback segment and has a gross weight of 1,099 kgs. Apart from Santro, the Global NCAP has also released the crash test reports of the Maruti Suzuki Ertiga, Maruti Suzuki WagonR and the Datsun Redi-GO.
The Santro receives 2 stars in terms of safety for an average adult occupant, as the protection offered to the driver and passenger’s head and neck was good, but the driver’s chest showed weak protection while the passenger’s chest showed marginal protection. In terms of lower body protection, the driver and passenger’s knees showed marginal protection as they could come in contact with dangerous structures behind the dashboard, which is supported by the tranfascia tube. The footwell area was also rated as unstable.
Also Read: Datsun RediGO With A Driver-side Airbag Scores One Star In The Global NCAP Crash Test
The safety rating for a child occupant in the Santro is 2 stars, as Hyundai declined to recommend Child Restraint Systems (CRS) for the test, so the dynamic points were rated as zero. The CRS for a 3-year-old was installed in a forward-facing manner using an adult seatbelt. Despite this, the seatbelt was not able to prevent extreme forward movement during the impact, due to which the head of the dummy came in contact with the seat. On the other hand, when the 18-month-old CRS was installed in a rear-facing manner using an adult seatbelt, the seatbelt and CRS offered good protection to the child dummy. However, the recommended CRSs did not show incompatibility, the vehicle did not offer 3 point seatbelts for the rear seats and ISOFIX connectors are not available for any seats.
David Ward, CEO and President of Global NCAP said, “The latest results in our #SaferCarsforIndia crash tests show a mixed safety performance, and disappointingly, there are no five-star performers. The Suzuki Maruti Ertiga achieves a creditable three stars for both adult and child occupant protection, but it’s obvious to us that more can and should be done to improve overall protection levels for cars sold in the market. The Indian government’s crash test standards are clearly helping to eliminate any new zero star cars from the market, and we will continue to work with them to ensure the push of regulatory requirements is complemented by the pull of consumer awareness, encouraging the demand for ever-higher levels of safety.”