Volkswagen Taigun and Skoda Kushaq have joined the list of safest cars in India, with 5-star rating in Global NCAP crash tests
Credited with spreading awareness about car safety, Global NCAP has updated its testing criteria for India. This will further help to bring safety standards for cars in India closer to global standards. The first cars to ace these updated safety tests are Volkswagen Taigun and Skoda Kushaq. Both these SUVs share the same MQB A0 IN platform and are produced at the same plant.
Global NCAP crash tests have been made even more stringent. They now include frontal and side impact protection, along with dedicated tests for electronic stability control (ESC), side impact pole protection and pedestrian protection. In future, Global NCAP test protocols for India will also include assessment of ADAS features. These tests are already part of the standard NCAP protocols in developed auto markets.
India’s safest cars (Adult Safety and Child Safety)
Cars with highest Adult Safety ratings are Taigun and Kushaq (29.64), Tata Punch (16.45), Mahindra XUV300 (16.42), Tata Altroz (16.13), Tata Nexon (16.06) and Mahindra XUV700 (16.03). All these cars have a 5-star adult safety rating.
There are quite a few 4-star rated cars such as Honda Jazz, Toyota Urban Cruiser, Mahindra Marazzo, Mahindra Thar, Tata Tiago, Tata Tigor, Maruti Brezza, Renault Kiger, Honda City 4th Gen, Nissan Magnite and Renault Triber. Cars with lowest score in adult safety are S-Presso, Scorpio, Alto, Eeco and Kwid.
In child safety, Taigun and Kushaq have scored the highest 42 points among all cars in India. Total score of 49 is the same as earlier. Taigun and Kushaq are the only cars to get 5-star for child safety. Other cars such as XUV700, Thar, Punch, City 4th Gen, XUV300 and Tigor EV have 4-star rating in child safety. Cars with lowest score in child safety are Kwid, S-Presso, NIOS, Kia Seltos and Maruti Swift.
India’s safest cars Oct 2022 (Total Points Scored)
In terms of total points scored in Global NCAP crash tests, the top five safest cars are Volkswagen Taigun and Skoda Kushaq (71.64), Mahindra XUV700 (57.69), Tata Punch (57.34) and Mahindra XUV300 (53.86). Taigun and Kushaq have relatively higher scores, as they have been tested based on updated protocols. As compared to the earlier 17 points for Adult Safety, the updated protocols have pushed the upper limit to 34 points.
With the updated test protocols, total score is now 83. Earlier, the total score was 66. It remains to be seen how the cars tested earlier will perform in the updated test procedures. Cars with the least score in Global NCAP crash tests are Maruti S-Presso (13.84), Mahindra Scorpio (16.73), Maruti Alto (18.21), Renault Kwid (19.19) and Hyundai NIOS (22.05).
Global NCAP is hopeful that cars in India will be able to deliver good results in updated crash test protocols. The journey of creating awareness about car safety will continue when India will get its own exclusive crash test platform Bharat NCAP.
