Up until now, the older Vitara Brezza from Maruti Suzuki was considered to have good safety ratings with 4 Stars awarded by GNCAP
The strategic partnership between Suzuki and Toyota has yielded many brand-engineered products. One of the stark examples are Maruti Suzuki Grand Vitara and Toyota Urban Cruiser Hyryder. The duo has been successful in India where sales are concerned. Now, their crash test images have surfaced on the internet. Let’s take a look.
Maruti Grand Vitara Bharat NCAP
Tackling the over-crowded compact SUV segment, Maruti Suzuki and Toyota came up with Grand Vitara and Urban Cruiser Hyryder respectively. These vehicles are co-developed by both the brand and built by Toyota. Suzuki’s Global C platform underpins both of these SUVs.
Neither of these vehicles has been crash tested yet, but the same was due. Now, images of what looks like Bharat NCAP crash test of Grand Vitara have surfaced on the internet. There is very little clarity as to how these images have surfaced. However, we can see a Grand Vitara crash tested for frontal and side impacts.
Said vehicle subjected to crash test is different for different tests. It is to be noted that Maruti Suzuki does not offer 6 airbags as standard across all the variants of Grand Vitara. Something that the new Swift gets. Only for the pole test, a 6 airbag equipped vehicle was used. While side impact test using a mobile deformable barrier was done in a lower variant.
Maruti Suzuki Grand Vitara Bharat NCAP test results are not live yet. Nor are there any leaks suggesting the same. From the images leaked online, we can see that Grand Vitara has done a good job of absorbing the frontal impact. Even the impact test and pole tests show minimal intrusion into passenger space.
What to expect?
Speculations suggest a good safety rating of at least 4 stars, matching the crash performance of the now-discontinued Vitara Brezza from Maruti Suzuki. Conversely speaking, Grand Vitara Bharat NCAP crash rating might very well yield 5 Stars too, making it the first vehicle with a Maruti Suzuki badge to score 5 Stars in a crash test.
There are rumours about Bharat NCAP agency testing the crash ratings of Tata’s upcoming Curvv and it passed with full fat 5 Stars. As of now, the only compact SUVs to offer good crash safety performance are Skoda Kushaq and Volkswagen Taigun. Tata Motors is expected to join the 5 Star club within compact SUVs with Curvv.
Will there ever be a 5 Star rated Maruti Suzuki car, ever? The answer to this question is bugging Indian automotive enthusiasts as well. Soon, Bharat NCAP ratings for Grand Vitara will go live and Toyota Urban Cruiser will get the same ratings as they are brand engineered products.