Global NCAP, the world-leading crash testing agency recently tested the Renault Lodgy MPV and it scored a zero-star safety rating. The base model of the Lodgy was tested which gets no airbags or child support seats, which earned the MPV a zero-star safety rating adult occupants and a two-star rating for child occupants, the report also stated the bodyshell integrity to be unstable. The test was conducted as a part of Global NCAP’s Safer Cars For India Campaign, which launched back in 2014. The higher variant of the car with ABS and airbags may have scored better we guess, and it would be apt for the car maker to offer the safety features as standard even on the base variant to improve its standing in the crash test rating.
The report suggested the reason of the Lodgy’s poor performance was mainly due to lack of airbags, which caused the head and chest to hit the steering wheel in the crash test which was conducted at 64 kmph. The bodyshell of the car was declared unstable due to the fact that even the rear door deformed by the crash and there was a rupture in the footwell. In the rear seat, the lack of ISOFIX support points meant the child seats had to be fixed using an adult seatbelt which lead to more travel of the seat during the crash and the 3-year-old dummy’s head hit the front seat of the car.
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Renault already had a bad history with crash tests, their popular hatchback, Kwid also received a zero star rating in the crash tests. However, with the introduction of a driver airbag, Renault Kwid was awarded a one-star safety rating. We hope Renault takes this as a wake-up call and offers safer cars in the Indian market. No family would want to put themselves in a car which has no safety equipment on offer, even with the top end variants in some cases, safety equipment like ABS and at least two airbags should be offered by manufacturers as standard. Below is a video of the crash test conducted by Global NCAP.