[SPARKled]

That's a great achievement. Hope shameless manufacturers like Renault, Maruti and a few others are taking notice of this. A Tata Nexon was never in consideration for my wife's car, but it certainly is a top contendor now.

[R2D2]

Congrats Tata Motors.

As a former customer I've been unabashed in criticizing TM for their quality but let's give credit when due. It is time to extend kudos to Tata Motors. This and the fact they've renamed their 'Duralloy' wheels to something that's not misleading increases my respect for them. Way to go TM. They should aim to be a beacon for the rest of the Indian auto industry.

[hiren.mistry]

Congrats to Tata Motors, Kudos! The first Indian manufacturer to score this lofty rating.
One thing that puzzles me, I was under the impression that for a car to score a NCAP 5* rating it needs to have 6 airbags. Has this been relaxed?

[bluevolt]

No doubt Nexon is a great product from Tata.
Post Tata Safari, It is the second car from Tata which I personally admire.

Not that I have any questions over my decision to buy Baleno last Diwali since I am very happy with my car.
But if I had to buy a car with a similar budget today, would have gone for Nexon over Baleno!

[giri1.8]

So 5-star is achievable without curtain airbags! I am sure few more car makers who scored 4 stars (Polo, etios, Brezza) can try to bag the elusive perfect 5 stars hope my next car is one!

Edit: Marazzo has 4 stars? that is new news to me!

[landcruiser123]

Now I won't be crying about Tata deleting features. While I wouldn't go as far to call it a great achievement, Tata motors commitment to safety is commendable.
I hope other manufacturers soon follow the suit.
EDIT: Well done, Mahindra.

[Karthik Chandra]

Nexon website and brochure display the proud achievement





NEXON_BROCHURE_FOR_WEB.pdf

I hope all Nexons moving out of the production floor to flaunt the proud achievement

[The Riddler]

Kudos to Tata!! Huge strides made by them in the past year.

Time for the market leaders to strive towards making cars that are rated well for safety. I personally feel that our government must amend the rules & allow manufacturers to only sell cars that are rated well for safety rather than just having categories on length & displacement.

[Vid6639]

I wish we knew what was changed structurally vs the earlier model to get it the 5 star rating. Has to be something significant.

Current owners may not be too happy seeing that newer cars are safer than their cars.

[myavu]

Kudos to Tata Motors

This news really made my day. 5 Star out of a 4 Star rated car is a phenomenal effort, that too without side and curtain airbags. Keep going.

Dear Tata, please offer a new top end Nexon with side and curtain airbags now.

Originally Posted by Vid6639

So the loss of minor features was at the cost of safety. They had to add components for safety and hence had to remove some so as to not increase the price

I agree 90% with you. But deleting Rear Fog Lamp is too much. It wont go well with this 5 star safety concept altogether. Rear fog lamps are life saver in winters especially here in North.



Cheers!

[amit_mechengg]

Originally Posted by Vid6639

I wish we knew what was changed structurally vs the earlier model to get it the 5 star rating. Has to be something significant.

Current owners may not be too happy seeing that newer cars are safer than their cars.

Sir, the Nexon scored 4 star in Euro NCAP which is very stringent. Now it scored 5 star in Global NCAP. There is no change in structure. Current owners can stay happy that they drive the safest indian car, manufactured by indian company.

[avinash_clt]

Understanding that there is some confusion about what it takes to achieve 5-stars for Adult Occupant Safety as per GNCAP tests, reposting myself from another thread.

Originally Posted by avinash_clt

Unlike Euro-NCAP or Australasian-NCAP, Global NCAP doesn't award a combined overall star rating. Instead it tests and rates vehicle for Adult Occupant Safety and Child Occupant Safety separately.

I am attaching copies of the relevant assessment criteria as used by GNCAP.

Normally the latest assessment protocol/criteria are always uploaded in the respective NCAP website. Currently on GNCAP website, for adult occupant protection, the latest version is "Version 1.0, August 2017". Assuming we are referring to 5-star rating for Adult occupant protection, following is the criteria:

--------------------------------------------------------------------
3.3 Scoring & Visualisation

The protection provided for adults for each body region are presented visually, using coloured segments within body outlines. The colour used is based on the points awarded for that body region (rounded to three decimal places), as follows:

Green 4.000 points
Yellow 2.670 - 3.999 points
Orange 1.330 - 2.669 points
Brown 0.001 - 1.329 points
Red 0.000 points

For frontal impact, the body regions are grouped together, with the score for the grouped body region being that of the worst performing region or limb. Results are shown separately for driver and passenger. The grouped regions are:

- Head and Neck,
- Chest,
- Knee, Femur, Pelvis (i.e. left and right femur and knee slider)
- Leg and Foot (i.e. left and right lower leg and foot and ankle).

The contribution of the frontal impact test to the Adult Occupant Protection Score is calculated by summing the body scores for the relevant body regions, taking the lower of the driver and passenger scores. The total achievable score is 17.00 points and the overall scores are then used to generate star ratings as follows:

Frontal Impact:

• 14.00 – 16.00 points + 1 point SBR + 4ch ABS + ECE95* --> 5 stars
• 11.00 – 13.99 points --> 4 stars
• 8.00 – 10.99 points --> 3 stars
• 5.00 – 7.99 points --> 2 stars
• 2.00 – 4.99 points --> 1 star
• 0.00 – 1.99 points --> 0 stars

*To be eligible for 5 stars the car must score over 14 points in the ODB test (after application of modifiers).

In addition, it must have the full point on SBR, 4 Channel ABS and offer some side impact performance protection. To demonstrate the latter, a MDB test must be sponsored by the manufacturer on an actual Global NCAP market car of the identical specification as the frontal crash car according to the test specification of ECE R95. The MDB test would need to be performed even in cases where under the regulatory requirements the vehicle would be exempted due to various reasons, for example seating position. In order to qualify for 5 stars, the performance criteria of ECE95 should be met. The test results may be published by Global NCAP. Where the car is equipped with a side protection airbag (curtain or thorax side airbag) the airbags should be standard fitted.

In order to avoid the highly undesirable situation of a vehicle gaining a rating of multiple stars when an important body region is poorly protected, the rating will be limited to no more than 1 star regardless of the total number of points scored.
----------------------------------------------------------

Basically this means that for vehicles which are already rated 4 stars, for them to reach 5-star rating, only the following are required:

• Achieve a score greater than 14.00 for front offset-deformable barrier (ODB).

  -- Currently none of the 4-star rated cars have a score greater than 14.00

  -- Nexon has the highest score of 13.56, but this would be including SBR score for driver seat.

  -- Having driver knee airbag helps for better score in front ODB test. Yaris has an advantage here.

• 4-Channel ABS
• Seat belt reminder (SBR) for all front row seats
• Conformity to a side impact crash test using a Moving Deformable Barrier (MDB): The vehicle would ideally need side and curtain airbags to pass the same.

Other safety features like ESP, SBR for rear seat or any of the passive/active ADAS systems are not mandatory at the moment for achieving a 5-star rating as per GNCAP. This is not particularly tough to achieve and far less stringent than the ENCAP, ANCAP or IIHS ratings.

To be able to achieve 5-star rating for entire model line-up base car will need to be tested. Else if manufacturer is happy to sponsor the test and rate a higher spec variant or one with safety pack option, they may do so also. The model will then have two ratings, one for the base variant and one for the higher spec/safety-pack variant.

Kudos to Tata and Nexon team for this achievement and improving the vehicle's safety further. The real surprise to me is that fact that they could achieve the minimum performance requirement in a side-impact test, without using side/curtain airbags.

What I can sum up about the improvements made towards achieving 5-stars:

1) Addition of SBR for front passenger: Previously seat-belt reminder (SBR) was available only for the driver. Now they have added it as standard for the front passenger seat also. Unlike for the driver seat, front passenger seat SBR systems require an Occupant Detection Sensor. This is usually a pressure sensor/pad fitted on the seat base. This sensor along with a seat buckle switch usually realizes the front passenger SBR.

2) Standard 4-channel ABS: ABS was standard across Nexon range from the start, but wasn't it 4-channel also? My assumption was that at this price point, ABS being 4-channel type is a common affair. Perhaps I was mistaken.

3) Conformity to side impact test (ECE95): Against a Moving Deformable Barrier at 50kmph and minimum performance as per original criteria has been met, despite not being equipped with side or curtain bags. Commendable, but do note that unlike ENCAP, the GNCAP side-impact test doesn't assign graded scores, just a pass/fail. Equipping the vehicle with side/curtain airbags will improve the protection further.

4) Improved protection to thigh/femur/knee area: If you compare from the test report snippet below, you will see that in the latest crash test, the protection offered to knee and upper leg area is rated 'Good', previously it was 'Marginal'. It is likely that they improved the interior structures/components/trims to offer better protection.

Originally Posted by giri1.8

So 5-star is achievable without curtain airbags! I am sure few more car makers who scored 4 stars (Polo, etios, Brezza) can try to bag the illusive perfect 5 stars hope my next car is one!

Originally Posted by prkiran

It still is for Euro NCAP. Guess the standards are slightly lower for Global NCAP. The 1 star rating for Jeep Wrangler is from Euro NCAP. Still, a remarkable achievement indeed for Tata.

Originally Posted by Rajeevraj

Great job by Tata. I was under the impression that side airbags were mandatory for a 5 Star Rating.

As mentioned above, only the minimum performance criteria as per ECE95 side impact test have to be met. At the moment GNCAP doesn't differentiate between cars that would perform significantly better than the other in a side-impact test.
It is commendable that Tata conforms to the test without side/curtain airbags. But having them will significantly improve side impact performance.

Originally Posted by Guna

This is a great news.
I just wonder if that is the case, those who already got 4 stars can easily upgrade to 5 by just adding safety features?
Is the 5 star rating foe the front occupants as it seems the for the rear it still retains 3 star rating.

It is not that easy.
In the front impact test itself, the vehicle will have to score more than 14.00 points to be even considered for 5-star rating. Tata has achieved this by improving the protection offered to the occupants' upper leg and knee area compared to previous test (thereby going from 13.06 to 15.06 if I'm not mistaken).

To give an idea, among the cars rated 4-stars till date, below are the scores during frontal impact test:

• Tata Nexon (4 stars): 13.06
• Toyota Etios Liva (4 stars): 13.00
• VW Polo (4 stars): 12.54
• Mahindra Marazzo (4 stars): 12.35
• Suzuki Vitara Brezza (4 stars): 12.01
• Tata Zest (4 stars): 10.65

On top of it, SBR for both driver and front passengers (+1.00 points), 4-channel ABS as standard and conformity to side-impact test are needed for 5-stars.

Originally Posted by amit_mechengg

Sir, the Nexon scored 4 star in Euro NCAP which is very stringent. Now it scored 5 star in Global NCAP.

This is incorrect. Nexon was previously tested as per G-NCAP protocols and not as per EU-NCAP protocols.
G-NCAP protocol looks only at the front offset deformable barrier crash test primarily, from a crash performance point of view. EU-NCAP looks at and evaluates a wider array of crash tests and awards a combined star rating that gives weightage to adult safety, child occupant safety, safety assist systems and vulnerable-road users' safety.

Originally Posted by Vid6639

I wish we knew what was changed structurally vs the earlier model to get it the 5 star rating. Has to be something significant.

The comments from the 4-star test says

The protection offered to the driver and passenger head and neck was good. Driver and passenger chest showed adequate protection. Driver and passengers’ knee could impact with dangerous structures behind the dashboard which is supported by the Tranfascia tube.The bodyshell was rated as stable and it was capable of withstanding further loadings.

However in the latest test, the comments:

The protection offered to the driver and passenger’s head and neck was good. Driver and passenger’s chest showed adequate protection. Driver and passenger’s knee showed good protection. The bodyshell was rated as stable and it was capable of withstanding further loadings. Footwell area was rated as stable.

So they are likely to have improved the structure/components behind the dashboard and/or interior trims that impact the knees and upper legs.



Hope this brings some clarity

[deetjohn]

At Global NCAP earlier, when word was out they were testing cars from India!




And after Nexon got there!




Well done Tata! So Proud!


Attached below is the detailed report on the Nexon. I am only slightly confused about the side impact. The dummy' head can be clearly seen hitting the roof liner. Maybe the impact is not much. I am really excited to see how many points Nexon will gather when Tata equips it with curtain and side airbags. Its already at a very impressive 16.06/17.

source (More Indian cars face Global NCAP crash tests. Edit: ZERO for all)

[avinash_clt]

Originally Posted by deetjohn

Attached below is the detailed report on the Nexon. I am only slightly confused about the side impact. The dummy' head can be clearly seen hitting the roof liner. Maybe the impact is not much. I am really excited to see how many points Nexon will gather when Tata equips it with curtain and side airbags. Its already at a very impressive 16.06/17.

At the moment, G-NCAP is not grading side-impact tests like they do for front impact tests. As I understand, it is only a case of meeting the minimum impact performance criteria or not, and no scaled points being awarded.

So till the protocols are updated, a vehicle doing significantly better in side-impact test will not be differentiated from another that just meets the minimum criteria. In other words, adding side/curtain airbags to Nexon will improve its real-world crash safety, but not the current G-NCAP scores.

[searacer932]

Originally Posted by Vid6639

I wish we knew what was changed structurally vs the earlier model to get it the 5 star rating. Has to be something significant.

Current owners may not be too happy seeing that newer cars are safer than their cars.

WoW! Can't see anyone being unhappy just because newer cars are safer cars. Will they be happy if the NEXON was downgraded from 4* to 3*?