[CrAzY dRiVeR]

Originally Posted by GTO

Important to note that both of them use the old X1 platform (first seen in the Indica Vista). Obviously, Tata has been beefing it up over the years.

Oh yes - Absolutely!

Infact, TATA had opened their show in the Global NCAP with a zero star rating for the Zest. As per the words of the international body - "As has been the case with other manufacturers, Global NCAP offered Tata the opportunity to test another version of the Zest with more safety features. Accepting the opportunity, Tata introduced a structural improvement to the entire Zest range while Global NCAP tested the new version with optional airbags. "

Seems they have kept up the same standards with the Nexon as well. Credit where it deserves and full respect to TATA on that!

Commendable also because competition reacted very differently to the same situation. .

Maruti Suzuki -
“People are talking of car safety and we have about 1.5 lakh road fatalities, therefore cars should be made more safe. None of these people have established any link between the number of deaths and cars.

“Somebody wants to sell an airbag, what does he do? He pushes the safety angle. Nobody has yet proved that unsafe cars are the reason for higher road fatalities,””

Hyundai -
"Hyundai vehicles are designed and built to meet all prescribed safety standards set by Indian regulatory authorities."

Originally Posted by rish_arora

I am just curious to know about how a car reaches the GLOBAL NCAP tests. Does the manufacturer send their vehicle to them or they pick up a vehicle from the market?

Global NCAP doesn't have this fully documented - but EuroNCAP makes it very clear in their documentation. The process should be same for all associated bodies as well, since they all follow the same processes, but with small tweaks for regional variations -

Who Decided What Cars Are Tested ?
Every member organisation of Euro NCAP sponsors the assessment of at least one car model per year. They may choose a vehicle which is of relevance to their own domestic market or one which is particularly important in a certain market segment. In addition, vehicle manufacturers can sponsor their own cars. The process followed is exactly the same for both cases.

Where Does Euro NCAP Get the Cars for Testing ?
Up to 4 cars are needed for an assessment by Euro NCAP. If a car model is already on sale, Euro NCAP will generally buy cars from dealers, in the same way that consumers do. Cars are bought anonymously, either from a single dealer or from several. Once the cars are at the test laboratory, the manufacturer is informed of the vehicle identification numbers (VINs) and are asked to confirm the specification. If a production change has been made since the cars were produced, for example to an item of safety equipment, the manufacturer may ask for the current part to be fitted to the vehicle. This ensures that, when they are released, the results are representative of current production cars.

So TATA Motors can request for a test, or even sponsor the tests for their vehicles. But they cannot send the vehicles for NCAP testing - the vehicles are procured by NCAP directly.

You can also rest assured knowing that it is not easy to cheat in these crash tests. Renault had to take four attempts with the Kwid before they went from a zero star to a one star rating!

[invidious]

Nice. But even from the first generation Indica, even if the ergonomics and fit and finish were bad, the car seemed pretty sturdy. It takes a while to get things right and Tata has done a great job. It's a matter of time before the brand baggage disappears as a new generation of buyers emerges.

[srvm]

Congrats Tata.
Nice to know that Nexon performed well in GNCAP test. I would like to know if they tested if for other conditions such as pedestrian impact, side impact etc.

Originally Posted by AkMar

.......
Tata should capitalise on this and ideally run a short ad campaign on this. They should leverage this news to generate positive buzz.

Originally Posted by GTO

......
I disagree. Your comments are frankly outdated. While the Tata brand does carry a lot of baggage, its new cars are doing well. The Tiago is consistently selling 7,000 - 8,000 cars, while the Nexon does 4,000+.

Also remember that it is this kind of news that builds a brand. Yes, the process is long, but quality always pays for itself. The market today is a lot more mature.

Originally Posted by vibbs

I think that is exactly what Tata needs to do. Give 6 airbags, get 5 stars and importantly MARKET it. Let people know, Tata has come a long way from the Indicas of the old.
......

Originally Posted by S.MJet

Front dual airbags and ABS is standard right from base variant.

Not sure if they should advertise this, it may not have a impact unless it was a full five stars.

Originally Posted by KK_HakunaMatata

In my opinion they should use it for marketing too, otherwise how would a person not following any auto websites/journals come to know that car is 4 star certified. And also I feel it positively impacts sales in the long run.

Originally Posted by volkman10

They are already at it
....

Tata did the below ad for Zest couple of years ago. It did nothing to change its sales numbers. (maybe it was jinxed because it was TBHP COTY-2014! )







GTO may think that our market is maturing fast. Personally, I don't think Nexon's crash rating will affect its sales numbers EVEN if they marketed it. I will be happy to be proved wrong.

See the image below (taken from GNCAP site). Can you see the (inverse) correlation between safety and sales numbers?

Originally Posted by libranof1987

Good job, Tata.

I hope more of sold-in-India cars get tested to put things into perspective from a safety point of view. An ideal day is when customers ask the SA, "how many stars in NCAP" rather than "how much is the FE". If this isn't giving Maruti a headache, something is seriously wrong with our market!

If I see live to see that day, I'll die a happy man!

[vennarbank]

I remember seeing 4 star for Ford Ecosport. Why that is not there. Is it because they have not tested Indian variant.

[rambo1o1]

Originally Posted by vennarbank

I remember seeing 4 star for Ford Ecosport. Why that is not there. Is it because they have not tested Indian variant.

The 2018 Ecosport was tested by the NHTSA(USA) and not by global Ncap. Even though the Ecosport sold in the US is made in India, it would be better if Global Ncap tests the Indian version as different testing agencies have different parameters for giving ratings.

[G V Krishna]

My Opinion in one word...'Nahi Bikega' - 'Will not sell'

Aam janta (Public) is always biased towards Maruti, then Hyundai. This is clearly evident from the sales numbers. Check any class of cars. Ecosport & Nexon are safest cars in the segment but tin can Brezza sells double the number of Ecosports & Nexons sold together. (July 2018 figures: Brezza - 14000, Nexon-3800, Ecosport-4000) & then pricier Creta - 10000 units per month. (*Of Course Maruti built this image in 2-3 decades)

And why should Maruti and Hyundai or some other company bother about people getting killed because of poorly built cars? Who is going to ask/sue them? Government? People? Media?. These MNCs are only after minting money. When did seat belts appear for back seats? after government mandating them...And why wouldn't government mandate NCAP ratings of minimum 3 or 4 ? Because government is only bothered about getting votes.

We don't even have a fool proof system for issuing/monitoring driving license, forget mandating NCAP tests for cars.

We were/are/will be a third world country unless there is a proper civil & political will develops across the nation. And why doesn't that happen? because people are busy fighting for their caste/language/reservation/region/religion/sub-caste/state-hoods/<insert another trivial thing>.


Welcome to reality and sorry for my rant!!!!!.

[vibbs]

Originally Posted by G V Krishna

My Opinion in one word...'Nahi Bikega' - 'Will not sell'

Aam janta (Public) is always biased towards Maruti, then Hyundai.
Welcome to reality and sorry for my rant!!!!!.

Well not exactly. Nexon does sell quite well specially considering one important point. I guess Maruti has almost 4 times the number of dealerships that Tata has?

All other points notwithstanding this is one aspect we always forget when it comes to analysing the reason for Maruti's sales domination. Their reach is unparalleled.

That said, I do get your point as well, but I also believe that our market is slowly maturing and people do appreciate well built card now a days!

[SoumenD]

Originally Posted by GTO

I disagree. Your comments are frankly outdated. While the Tata brand does carry a lot of baggage, its new cars are doing well. The Tiago is consistently selling 7,000 - 8,000 cars...

Also remember that it is this kind of news that builds a brand. Yes, the process is long, but quality always pays for itself. The market today is a lot more mature.

With due respect, guess you missed the next part of my comment right after the text you quoted. Lemme requote myself:

Originally Posted by SoumenD

But then hoping the word of mouth (the actual working factor in India) does it's trick in due time and the manufacturer is rewarded for the good job.

Crash test results indeed is great but in the past we have seen it hasn't really affected the market leader much( with it's star performer scoring a solid 0). So I don't expect it to work wonders for TATA right away.

Never the less I absolutely love the Nexon and hopefully will get to own it as my next upgrade. Kudos to TATA for providing world class products to us.

[GTO]

Originally Posted by srvm

Tata did the below ad for Zest couple of years ago. It did nothing to change its sales numbers. (maybe it was jinxed because it was TBHP COTY-2014! )

GTO may think that our market is maturing fast. Personally, I don't think Nexon's crash rating will affect its sales numbers EVEN if they marketed it. I will be happy to be proved wrong.

Even a 5-star NCAP rating cannot change the fortunes of a flopped car. However, what it can do is strengthen the success of a good car. Such solid ratings also help build a powerful brand.

[arjab]

Originally Posted by GTO

Important to note that both of them use the old X1 platform (first seen in the Indica Vista). Obviously, Tata has been beefing it up over the years.

Yes and no. The X1 platform was pretty robust to begin with. The X1 was destined to see the shores of South Africa, EU, Latin America etc. Hence basic robustness and crash-worthiness was built in. Particularly the side members, (when you open the hood, the members on which the engine mounts rest), are very strong with large "crush cans" behind the front bumpers.
If you strip down a Vista down to its body-in-white and analyse it, you will be pleasantly surprised to see the well engineered bodyshell with solid reinforcements, in the crash zones. All these reinforcements did have a negative side : and that is weight . All Tata vehicles are quite portly if you run a kerb weight comparison with its competitors.
The weak Tata's in terms of build and questionable crash worthiness were the vehicles built on the Sumo platform. The Sumo in particular had dubious crash performance particularly the survival of its roof on severe impacts.
The Safari was good on its days. In fact the Safari was the first Tata to have been designed on CAD/CATIA.

I think TML will only improve its build quality in the years ahead. The new platforms will be global and obviously meet the harmonised vehicle homologation norms. What I have heard is that TML is also developing all its future products with an eye on 2022, the year by which Global NCAP wants to eliminate all "zero star rating" cars.

Which brings us to that inevitable million dollar question: why not the Nano? The Nano Europa was developed to meet all Euro crash norms and it did. Although it overshot its target cost. Can a bit of brand management alongwith with clever vehicle engineering resurrect the little bug once again?

[scwagh]

Commendable effort from team Tata. Proud to see how Tata has transformed from Indica to Nexon in overall quality and now in safety as well!

Originally Posted by vb-san

Quite commendable indeed!
I believe it can get even better if Tata takes the lead and make ESP and side/curtain airbags standard across its model range; if a homegrown manufacturer starts the trend others will soon follow the trend.

A noob question, does ABS and ESP have an effect on the overall NCAP ratings? ISOFIX mounts will have an impact on child safety ratings, but can a structurally rigid car without ABS and ESP get a 4 star ratings?

[landcruiser123]

I'm not surprised at all- every company has the engineering workforce to do it.
It's the attitude of the management that matters- I think this couldn't have come at a better time for Tata as we're not too far away from the BNVSAP and this is a good way to put behind the failure of the Nano.

Even Maruti has declared that most of their models are ready for the safety assessment. I don't see why we should simply bash up MSIL.

[ramji_or]

Originally Posted by GTO

While the Tata brand does carry a lot of baggage, its new cars are doing well. The Tiago is consistently selling 7,000 - 8,000 cars, while the Nexon does 4,000+.

Also remember that it is this kind of news that builds a brand. Yes, the process is long, but quality always pays for itself. The market today is a lot more mature.

Yes, Market is mature enough to oversee the old baggages of TML. And TML seems to be smart enough with their new launches to take advantage of the same. Zest and Nexon are just starting the trend.

[fiestarry]

Originally Posted by Kishen.padiyar

Impressive and encouraging from Tata.
Having said this, I am personally not very confident about how their flagship model - Hexa will fare in an NCAP. The head of Marketing Mr.Vivek Srivatsa blatantly told that crash test ratings are "internal" data and cannot be disclosed.

Unfortunately, companies like Tata and Nissan seem to be bearing the brunt of the armchair critics while serial offenders with mega market shares are conveniently spared. Much like how a Dinesh Karthik or Pant can't afford failures while a Dhoni can get away with one selfish innings after another.
Companies that sell tinny and fragile vehicles which suffer serious radiator damage after hitting a dog, are not targeted because of their sheer commercial success.
The Tatas are offering good all round packages that need appreciation and encouragement. The Hexa is a genuinely nice product at a price much lower than some others. Was ever a concern voiced about an Innova's potential crash test rating ? I don't think so. Much like the lack of criticism of a Test cricket captain who, in an unheard of fashion, abandoned the team during an overseas Test series; Shri Dhoni.

[Hayek]

Well done Tata. Delighted to see the progress you are making. Hope this inspires other volume manufacturers to stop making death traps, and our consumers to stop buying them merely for saving a tiny amount of fuel.