Indian passenger cars fail crash test terribly, raising concerns

Are you really safe in your car? Are you really confident that your four-wheeler can withstand a nasty crash and keep you intact and alive in your car?

If you believe it, then you are in for a surprise. In a global crash safety test that took place earlier this week, five Indian passenger cars failed. This raises many concerns about the national standards in our fast-growing automobile market.

The cars are- Maruti Suzuki Celerio, Maruti Eeco, Renault Kwid, Hyundai Eon and Mahindra’s sturdy Scorpio- have all scored a zero star in an international test that was conducted to determine how safe a car was for the passengers inside.

A statement from the Global New Car Assessment Programme (Global NCAP), said, “The latest Indian crash test results in Delhi continue to disappoint with all five models rated as zero star.”


Scorpio is a popular SUV known for its all-weather terrain capabilities and was once also proposed to be the prime minister’s vehicle. Mahindra, however, said that the tests were conducted on the non-airbags variant of the Scorpio and “approximately 75% of Scorpio customers choose the air bags variants of the vehicle”.

The statement further read, “Typically, in any star rating process, non-airbag variants do not perform well on safety standards,” highlighting the fact that most variants of the Scorpio are equipped with airbags and a safety package.

The first international safety analysis of Indian vehicles took place two years ago, when Maruti Alto 800, Maruti Swift, Tata Nano, Hyundai i10, Ford Figo, and Datsun Go had shared the same fate. The only cars to survive and score a four-star rating were Volkswagen Polo and Toyota Etios.

The Global NCAP is a United Kingdom-based car-testing agency that crashes vehicles against pillars and walls to study the impact on passengers on board. In the test, a head-on collision was simulated by driving the cars into a block at 64kph. The results showed adult drivers will either not survive the crash or sustain life-threatening injuries. All cars scored two stars for child safety except for the Celerio that scored a lone star.

Worse, the bodies of the cars were shattered by the crash with every vehicle reporting an “unstable bodyshell integrity” – which measures the structure safety levels after a collision.

David Ward, the secretary general of Global NCAP, said, “The latest results show how important it is for cars to have a body shell that can remain stable in a crash. This is an absolutely crucial pre-requisite for occupant safety together with fitment at least of front airbags.”

Automakers disputed the results, indicating that the cars were intentionally failed to promote high-end safety equipment. They also stated the flaws of such a test.


Maruti Suzuki stated that it has developed and followed India’s crash safety norms for frontal offset and side impact and it is at par with international guidelines and norms. They also noted how testing vehicles at 64kph against a wall in lab conditions was equivalent to about 120kph speed on the road.

The absence of these benchmarks highly questions world’s fifth-largest car market, which is poised to become the third behind China and the United States in two years. India, however, has announced a new set of standards – called Bharat New Vehicle Safety Assessment Program (BNVSAP) – will be announced next year for new cars and in 2019 for existing vehicles.

After complaining for many years have most carmakers started offering airbags in their base models here, but other essential features like anti-lock braking system and electronic brake-force distribution are provided only in higher trims.

Three versions of the Kwid were examined – including one with airbags – a facility none of the other makers offered. Industry experts were seemingly surprised at Kwid, which is manufactured by the renowned French carmaker Renault, too failed the test despite providing the airbag fitted version.

Kwid, which is manufactured by the renowned French car-maker Renault, too failed the test despite providing the air bag fitted version.

The NCAP statement also said, “It is very surprising that a manufacturer like Renault introduced the Kwid initially lacking this essential feature. Global NCAP strongly believes that no manufacturer anywhere in the world should be developing new models that are so clearly sub-standard.”

It comes at a time when Kwid’s production is being halted at the Chennai plant due to engine issues.
“Safety is of paramount importance for Renault and all our products meet and exceed the requisite safety standards set by Indian regulatory authorities,” Renault India said in a statement.

Some Indian automakers have also questioned the attitude of Global NCAP towards Indian carmakers. Maruti Suzuki, said, “If GNCAP is genuinely concerned about road safety why don’t they help India in conducting research of fatalities and study other factors impacting road safety such as licensing, driving quality, road engineering, and traffic management?”