Unveiled in November, fourth generation Skoda Octavia has received 5-star rating from car safety assessment agency Euro NCAP. 5-star is the max rating that can be achieved by a car, even though individual points earned for various safety parameters is different for all cars tested. All-new Octavia is expected to be launched in India in H2 next year.
The model tested was Skoda Octavia Combi 1.5 TSI “Ambition”, LHD, which is classified as a large family car and weighs 1313 kg. It comes with safety features such as front airbags, side head, chest and pelvis airbags, and belt pretensioner.
Other safety features include lane assist, speed assistance, ISOFIX child seat mounts, and collision avoidance system for front vehicle, pedestrian and cyclist. The 5-star safety rating is applicable for all new Octavia models except PHEV.
For adult occupant, new Skoda Octavia scored 35.3 points out of 38, which translates into overall rating of 92%. Points were given for various tests such as front offset deformable barrier test, frontal full width collision, lateral impact and whiplash rear impact test. Ratings for both driver and front passenger were in the range of ‘Good’ and ‘Marginal’. No ‘Weak’ or ‘Poor’ parameters were identified in the tests.
For child safety, Octavia scored 43.2 out of 49, which translates into 88% overall rating. The test results are applicable for children in the 6 to 10 age group, occupying the rear seats. All parameters for child safety were rated as ‘Good’.
In terms of pedestrian safety, overall rating was 73% (44.2 out of 60 points). For safety assist features, Octavia scored 10.3 out of a total of 13 points (79%). You can read the full report at EURO NCAP.
If we compare safety ratings of Euro cars with that of Indian cars, we can see that cars here have a lot to catch up. In the #SaferCarsForIndia campaign launched by Global NCAP earlier this year, only one car (Tata Nexon) was able to achieve max 5-star rating. Cars with 4-star rating were also few. The ratings also showed that some of the bestselling cars in the country did not get even a single star.
Roads in India are far from safe, so having advanced safety features is even more important in the country. Thankfully, things are expected to improve, as the government has made some safety equipment mandatory. These include safety features such as airbags, ABS, rear parking sensors, and seat belt reminder. Pedestrian safety features are also set to be made mandatory from 2020, which will further improve safety of all road users.
