[Kamal]

Re the Baleno crash test results.
I was hoping for better results, given the talk about TECT bodyshell engineering etc.
I think owners should request Maruti, which is reputed to be quite responsive to customers, to make the Safety Pack available in India, even as a paid option; with that, the rating would go up to 4 stars.
Perhaps Team BHP could also take this up with Maruti?

[technicalytuned]

I would like to request the moderators to please change the title of this thread from "Indian made Baleno gets EURO NCAP Dual Rating" to "Indian made European Suzuki Baleno model gets EURO NCAP Dual Rating". Since it looks quite misleading and on first glance it would look like these were the ratings for the Baleno sold in India.

http://auto.ndtv.com/news/top-varian...rating-1397692

Having said that, the Suzuki Baleno sold in India conforms to all the regulations currently enforced by the law of the land. Once crash testing becomes mandatory in India we hope the local model will also adopt the structure and equipment that's found on the European specification export model. It has been our position for long that safety systems must be offered as at least optional, and good structural integrity must be standard on all cars sold in India. There has been a commendable effort on the part of the market leader off late to offer airbags and ABS as optional if not standard on most of its cars. The Alto too now has an optional driver side airbag. Others like Ford, Mahindra and Toyota have also taken huge strides in this area with safety as optional or standard on all variants of each model sold.

[deetjohn]

The overall rating is poor in the Euro NCAP tests. But I am impressed by the stability of the cabin. Especially, the frontal offset test and the impact with the pole. Those are real hard ones to pass.

Hope there are no structural changes to the car we get here too.

[SmartCat]

It's likely that the Baleno got 3 stars because it has side airbags, which are not there in the car sold in India. But then, only a handful of cars sold in India have side airbags.

[volkman10]

Originally Posted by smartcat

It's likely that the Baleno got 3 stars because it has side airbags, which are not there in the car sold in India. But then, only a handful of cars sold in India have side airbags.

One of the reason for the low( 3 star) rating was the poor deployment of the curtain airbag.

In the side barrier test, dummy numbers showed good protection but the score for the head was penalised as the side curtain airbag was deemed not to have deployed in the correct manner in the side pole test

In the more severe side pole impact, dummy readings of lateral rib compression indicated weak chest protection and the head protection was downgraded to adequate as a result of the incorrect airbag deployment

Source- Euro NCAP

[extreme_torque]

I am sorry but three stars with all the airbags is pretty poor by today's standards. Such a car would not sell in Australia because even with 4 stars the all new Tuscon had the buyers worried. They had to upgrade the structure to actually come up with 5 stars.

http://www.caradvice.com.au/407762/h...wing-redesign/

[The AG 6167]

Firstly Kudos to Maruti for the "decent" 3/5 crash rating that the Baleno has received from Euro ncap.

Also, it has performed better than the Asean Ncap swift (the car we drive in India) so maruti's claims have come true.

However, in the real world the 890kg weight will keep it at a disadvantage against heavier cars since they would carry much more momentum than the counter force of the deformable barrier used in the crash test and the Baleno would also hold higher chances being tossed around. But thats not a deterrent given the fact that it would perform similar to the 965 kg swift in most real world conditions & even better in some. So being better than the best selling hatchback in the country is a good thing.

So now I wait for the Baleno RS to be out so that I can book mine!

Ps. The biggest safety accessory on a car is its driver. So drive safe, obey the laws of the road (even if others dont) & always wear your seat belt.

[adimicra]

Originally Posted by The AG 6167

. But thats not a deterrent given the fact that it would perform similar to the 965 kg swift in most real world conditions & even better in some. So being better than the best selling hatchback in the country is a good thing.

I do not understand this logic.
How is the Swift a benchmark for safety just because it sells in huge numbers? The Baleno should be compared with the I20/Jazz/Polo and I recollect the NCAP results for those cars are better than the Baleno.

Anyways, as far as I remember the Euro Swift scored 5* in NCAP tests.
But, the Baleno has scored inferior.
I understand the tests might have gone stringent over time but it also means that Suzuki has not been able to keep up with the standards in their latest offering. I do not see the test results to be alarming though but definitely better results were expected from a brand new car with 'TCET' bodyshell etc.

Obviously, all these arguments only apply if we get the same car in India or not which we can never be sure of.

[.anshuman]

This is a shame. The older Designed for Europe- Swift(not the car sold here) scored 5 stars in Euro NCAP few years back. Suzuki is perfectly capable of making a 5 star capable car. Expect the feather light Indian Baleno to be even worse.

How do you cover up in Indian market, so that Global NCAP guys do not shame you publicly by randomly testing the base variant, just offer ABS and Airbags as standard. This works well in a country where ignorant masses think once you get an airbags equipped car you become invincible.

I feel crash testing should be mandatory for all cars sold in India. And safety equipment like ABS and dual front Airbags be made mandatory for all cars, for higher segments beyond a certain price point and power figure- ESP and Curtain airbags be made compulsory.

[GTO]

Originally Posted by hybridpetrol

Hopefully this puts the reservations about the Baleno's safety (due to its light weight) to rest. 3 stars for a base model is good in comparison to market standards.

I agree. While we would like all cars on the road to offer 5 star safety, it's nice to know that the Baleno's safety is of acceptable standards. A lot of us had apprehensions after looking at its light kerb weight.

Originally Posted by srishiva

Does kerb weight give any indications on any beefed up structural add-ons to the ones sold here?

25 kilo difference isn't much (Indian Baleno = 865 kg) if you consider the additional equipment that the crash-tested Baleno had. But yes, what would truly reassure us is an India-spec Baleno being randomly picked & tested by the Euro NCAP (as they have done for so many other Indian cars).

Originally Posted by anjan_c2007

And this Baleno accident of November 2015 is still fresh on our minds

I can put up pictures of a Mercedes S-Class and BMW 7-Series that have crumpled beyond recognition after a crash. These pictures don't say anything and are absolutely worthless in gauging the safety of a car.


Source

[srishiva]

Originally Posted by .anshuman

This is a shame. The older Designed for Europe- Swift(not the car sold here) scored 5 stars in Euro NCAP few years back. Suzuki is perfectly capable of making a 5 star capable car. Expect the feather light Indian Baleno to be even worse.

How do you cover up in Indian market, so that Global NCAP guys do not shame you publicly by randomly testing the base variant, just offer ABS and Airbags as standard. This works well in a country where ignorant masses think once you get an airbags equipped car you become invincible.

I feel crash testing should be mandatory for all cars sold in India. And safety equipment like ABS and dual front Airbags be made mandatory for all cars, for higher segments beyond a certain price point and power figure- ESP and Curtain airbags be made compulsory.

Its little harsh to say 'ignorant masses'. We lack the economic power to buy better cars and the govt here lacks common sense to enforce safety rules.

Even in advanced countries, data proves that more and more safety equipment results in rash driving with feeling of the same invincibility.

[vinit.merchant]

Disappointing numbers there, even more if those 3 stars were scored with the side airbags.

Doesn't matter much end of day. Indian spec Swift scored worse in the Global NCAP but had no impact on its sales. Same thing with continue with Baleno, where the waiting periods are in the range of 5-6 months. At least till the time people think "ABS aur Airbags to hai na, bus ho gaya. Kitna deti hai?"

[WRXXX]

Originally Posted by adimicra

Anyways, as far as I remember the Euro Swift scored 5* in NCAP tests.
But, the Baleno has scored inferior.
I understand the tests might have gone stringent over time but it also means that Suzuki has not been able to keep up with the standards in their latest offering. I do not see the test results to be alarming though but definitely better results were expected from a brand new car with 'TCET' bodyshell etc.

Obviously, all these arguments only apply if we get the same car in India or not which we can never be sure of.

One important thing to consider here is this Baleno is made in India one, Swift that earned a 5 STAR rating before is an Hungarian one. I think only Vento and Etios which were made here and tested in LatinNCAP and scored a 4 STAR. Do we happen to know any other car that is made in India and scored higher ratings in euroncap?
That would be a fair comparision to see how well MSIL executed on a global safety requirement. But overall the shell itself seemed to hold up quite well and the side impact beams seemed to protect well too.

PS:- I suppose you meant the TECT bodyshell.

[Waspune]

Originally Posted by srishiva

Its little harsh to say 'ignorant masses'. We lack the economic power to buy better cars and the govt here lacks common sense to enforce safety rules.

Even in advanced countries, data proves that more and more safety equipment results in rash driving with feeling of the same invincibility.

Brother, nowadays there are a lot of choices available, so one cannot say that one picks a lowly built car just because its economical. You do have better built cars available in the market, but people are just blind folded and prefer the FE figures in front of their own safety.

Its been almost a year, when the Indian Swift was awarded 0 stars by NCAP, but that didnt deter its sales numbers, which is still going strong at 15-16k, and its not cheap as well. This is only possible if we are ignorant, even after knowing its safety aspect.

The Baleno is a premium hatch, then also it has scored a dismal 3 stars(with side airbags). Just compare it with i20, Punto, Polo and you would find that, we are still ignorant about our safety.

[naut]

Originally Posted by anjan_c2007

And this Baleno accident of November 2015 is still fresh on our minds:

Attachment 1499163

https://www.rushlane.com/maruti-suzu...-12174220.html

Originally Posted by GTO

I can put up pictures of a Mercedes S-Class and BMW 7-Series that have crumpled beyond recognition after a crash. These pictures don't say anything and are absolutely worthless in gauging the safety of a car.

Attachment 1499221
Source

Safety ratings by ratings by NCAPs do NOT in anyway assure total safety in all conditions as these tests are done in a controlled environment at pre-determined speeds. No, I don't mean to say the speeds used are very low either. All I am saying is that the speeds are fixed in the range of ~40-64 kmph depending upon frontal, side and pedestrian tests.

While they do give an indication of, how safe a car is, w.r.t the tests performed and a car's relative performance against other cars (subjected to the same tests), these results should not lead us believe that we are safe no matter what (e.g. collisions involving speeds, far in excess of the speeds mentioned above)!

Lastly, I wish all manufacturers sold the same cars in India that are sold in EU/USA rather than give us a cut-price model! Hope the Bharath NCAP due in 2017 changes this for good.