AUTONEWS

Sad results of NCAP edition 2023 for Suzuki and great for Mahindra

With the Safer Cars For India campaign, Global NCAP has been committed for years to improving the standard safety features of cars sold in India. In a new round of testing, Global NCAP crushed four basic versions of models supplied in India, resulting in not exactly better scores for Suzuki.

Global NCAP has put a number of cars supplied in India through its new crash tests for the second time. This time four cars had to pass, with only one scoring well. The Mahindra Scorpio-N has earned five NCAP stars in adult occupant safety. Child safety rated three stars.

The other three automotive candidates scored significantly worse. This trio hails from Maruti Suzuki, the Indian subsidiary of Suzuki. Global NCAP crushed the Maruti Suzuki Ignis, Swift and S-Presso and the Swift managed to do less badly. The Maruti Suzuki Swift achieved one NCAP star for adult occupant safety and one star for child safety. The Maruti Suzuki Ignis and Maruti Suzuki S-Presso(image below) received only one star for adult occupant safety and no NCAP stars for child safety.

The Mahindra Scorpio-N(image above) has two airbags, ABS and ESC as standard. In particular, the fact that the Scorpio-N lacks three-point seat belts in the rear cost it points. By the way, the model tested by Global NCAP had curtain airbags, although they are not standard. The three Suzukis have two airbags and ABS, but no ESC or curtain airbags. The trio's cage construction wasn't strong enough in head-on collisions either.

To be clear, the Maruti Suzuki Ignis and Swift are not directly comparable in terms of equipment to the European-delivered versions of these cars. The Suzuki S-Presso had already been tested by Global NCAP in 2020, so with only the driver's airbag. During that round of testing, the S-Presso failed to score a single NCAP star. The S-Presso – like the other three models recently tested – has two airbags as standard. This now earns the car an NCAP star.

Alejandro Furas, Secretary General of Global NCAP, congratulates Mahindra on its score, but says he is very concerned about Maruti Suzuki, which has a huge market share in India. Saul Billingsley, of the FIA Foundation involved in the crash tests, says Suzuki shows "disregard for the safety of Indian drivers, passengers and other road users".

In 2014, a series of Indian test results in Global NCAP went horribly wrong. In a series of crash tests, the Tata Nano, the then current Hyundai i10, the Ford Figo (Ka+), the Maruti Suzuki Alto and the Volkswagen Polo received zero or just one star. The Tata Nexo was the first car from an Indian manufacturer to achieve five NCAP stars. With the #SaferCarsForIndia campaign, Global NCAP wants to denounce the often poor standard equipment of cars sold in India.

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