It's highly foolish of Chevrolet (or any other manufacturer, for that matter) to sell cars in Latin America without even a driver airbag!
The Latin American market may not be on par with the developed markets, but some markets in Latin America are definitely more advanced than India. The simple fact that they've had an NCAP for some years is enough proof of this. An NCAP is nowhere in sight in India, with Global NCAP having to act as a substitute for one.
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Originally Posted by bblost Why did they even bother to test a car without airbags as that is a automatic 0 score! |
One actually has to appreciate the idea behind all NCAPs testing the base variant (or a variant with the same number of airbags as the base variant). That is the only way to get the highly stupid, extremely stingy manufacturers to equip even the base variant with a driver airbag (at the very least)!
If Global NCAP had not tested the base variants of Polo and previous gen. Figo, then airbags would not have been standard on the Polo, Vento, new Figo, Aspire
et cetera now. This is something that must be appreciated, as it forces manufacturers to make at least a driver airbag (or 2 airbags) available as standard across the range.
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But anyways this kind of seals the fate for my car. The loan gets over in 2018. The car will be replaced rightaway.
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Hold on to your 86 horses for a moment,
bblost.
This test is not necessarily an indication of the level of safety of the Indian Sail sedan / hatchback. The car tested wasn't exported from India. It was assembled in Colombia with kits from China.
As you already pointed out, the Sail sold in China got a 4* C-NCAP rating (with 2 airbags). The 40% frontal offset crash test at 64 kmph is common for all NCAPs.
There is no way to tell whether the Indian Sail twins will perform well in a crash test (like the Chinese Sail) or flunk the test (like the Colombian Sail). It depends on what GM India decided at the time of manufacturing the car in India. And I think the Indian Sail twins are completely manufactured in India (with maybe a few odd parts imported from the PRC).
One must not forget that airbags are indeed life savers and add greatly to the score in a crash test. Remember the Swift that got a 0* rating (with a structure classified as unstable) in the G-NCAP test, but got a 3* rating when the same structure was equipped with dual airbags?
Your Sail hatchback with 2 airbags isn't necessarily an unsafe car. Unless we get the Indian Sail crash-tested by NCAP, there is no way of knowing this. (While they're very welcome, the new BNVSAP norms are not the same as an NCAP test. The BNVSAP uses a 40% frontal offset test at 56 kmph in accordance with the UN ECE R94 standard, while NCAP's test takes place at a speed of 64 kmph.)
It may not be accurate to conclude the India-manufactured Sail twins (especially the variants with 2 airbags) are unsafe because the Colombia-assembled Sail (with kits from China) without airbags flunked the Latin-NCAP test.
However, I certainly
do not want to stop you if you want to replace your Sail due to concerns about the level of safety it offers. Peace of mind is paramount, and it's always better to be safe than sorry! If you feel your Sail may not provide enough protection, then it's definitely better to replace the car.