[volkman10]

Made in India Ford Figo+ NCAP tested:

Adult occupant:

Frontal impact: The protection offered to the driver head was adequate and passenger head received good protection. Driver and Passenger neck was good. Driver chest received marginal protection and
passenger chest received good protection from the restraint systems. Driver and passenger’s knees showed marginal protection as they can impact with dangerous structures behind the dashboard. Driver and passenger's tibias showed adequate and good protection.
Footwell area was rated as stable and showed insignificant deformation. Feet protection is good.

The bodyshell was rated as unstable.

Side impact: The car offered good protection tohead, abdomen and pelvis while chest received marginal protection. Side Pole Impact: was not performed as the car does not offer side head protection as standards.

ESC: The ESC was tested and its performance met the regulatory requirements of Latin NCAP. The car offers 2 front.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRNr...ature=youtu.be

[revmaxx]

Despite the fact that Ford offered one the best safety features in 6 air bags, it has not translated into a reasonable sales success for them. Does that mean that people are more inclined to find other reasons to choose a car than safety?

[antz.bin]

Originally Posted by revmaxx

Does that mean that people are more inclined to find other reasons to choose a car than safety?

I recently picked the Figo over, 48 other options which came within my budget (as per Carwale).

My basic feature list was:
1. No Marutis (not interested in tin boxes).
2. Front Adjustable headrests (our 1988 Maruti 800 had it, modern cars don't)
3. Rear adjustable headrests (vital safety feature) - Non Negotiable
4. Bluetooth Telephony (don't want to get caught paying fines)
5. ACC - Non Negotiable
6. ~8 Lac OTR post discounts regardless of Petrol or Diesel. - Non Negotiable.

Tiago and Figo were the only cars to fit this criteria south of 8 Lac Rupees.

Even if I relaxed some of the above criteria, Figo happened to be the most spacious (in terms of interior), the most powerful and the best handling and arguably the cheapest to maintain. This 4 star NCAP Rating is just the icing on the cake. I had consciously ignored Boot Space where it could get trumped by and higher priced competition.

I am really surprised why something which appeals to both my heart and my head can end up like this in terms of sales.

Instead of focusing their attention to no. of Airbags, I feel Ford India should change their Marketing strategy to highlight the whiplash protection provided by rear adjustable headrests during rear impact.

As an afterthought, this strategy probably won't work. Customer education is the worst Marketing strategy IMO. The only thing that needed fixing was the resale value. That is an easy fix by starting your own used car division and artificially inflating resale values. Having an upgrade path also helps, so bringing back the Fiesta and a new Mid-Size SUV should help people upgrade within the brand.

[IshaanIan]

Originally Posted by revmaxx

Despite the fact that Ford offered one the best safety features in 6 air bags, it has not translated into a reasonable sales success for them. Does that mean that people are more inclined to find other reasons to choose a car than safety?

I'd say it's because they forgot what people had come to expect from a Ford. Sure they gave us cheaper spares and more localisation and sure they gave us more features. BUT, they took away the solid construction and handling abilities that they used to be known for. Thus anyone who owned a Fiesta or the old Figo, wasn't too sure he was getting an upgrade with the new stuff. Note how the test mentions unstable bodyshell in contrast to the old figo which was given no stars due to lack of airbags in base variant, but had a bodyshell that was rated good.

In my opinion, Hyundai has the decent build and features game locked down. What other brands like Ford are forgetting when trying to pull the same trick, is that Hyundai did it from absolutely nothing; nobody loved the brand as such, neither the practical folks, nor the enthusiasts, so in comparison to the stuff they were putting out generations ago, their new products are an upgrade in every conceivable sense. Ford on the other hand, was loved by enthusiasts and in their chase to go after the practical folks, they've let their old fan-base down. A strict no no in my opinion.

Just look at what Volkswagen has done with their Polo; they began with a car powered by anemic engines, but instead of changing the whole formula, they gave it better motors and a sleuth of features and a solid auto-box for those who were interested, while still retaining the build and ride characteristics that they were known for, and now we have Polo GTs flying off the shelves.

[rajathv8]

Originally Posted by revmaxx

Does that mean that people are more inclined to find other reasons to choose a car than safety?

The number of airbags does not translate to a safe car.
For a safe car you first need a stable body structure, followed by airbags. In the case of Figo it has the latter but not the former.

[Simple_car]

Originally Posted by IshaanIan

I'd say it's because they forgot what people had come to expect from a Ford. Sure they gave us cheaper spares and more localisation and sure they gave us more features. BUT, they took away the solid construction and handling abilities that they used to be known for. Thus anyone who owned a Fiesta or the old Figo, wasn't too sure he was getting an upgrade with the new stuff. Note how the test mentions unstable bodyshell in contrast to the old figo which was given no stars due to lack of airbags in base variant, but had a bodyshell that was rated good.

In my opinion, Hyundai has the decent build and features game locked down. What other brands like Ford are forgetting when trying to pull the same trick, is that Hyundai did it from absolutely nothing; nobody loved the brand as such, neither the practical folks, nor the enthusiasts, so in comparison to the stuff they were putting out generations ago, their new products are an upgrade in every conceivable sense. Ford on the other hand, was loved by enthusiasts and in their chase to go after the practical folks, they've let their old fan-base down. A strict no no in my opinion.

Just look at what Volkswagen has done with their Polo; they began with a car powered by anemic engines, but instead of changing the whole formula, they gave it better motors and a sleuth of features and a solid auto-box for those who were interested, while still retaining the build and ride characteristics that they were known for, and now we have Polo GTs flying off the shelves.

The enthusiast or the people who knew the positives of Ford were and still remain a minority. The success of Figo was because of the value proposition. Once competition caught up, they didn't have much else to offer. At some point Ford took a call to cater to the masses. So they diluted their handling and solid build etc, but gave other great things like cheap maintainence, good support, much more comfortable suspensions and reliability and features as well.


IMO, their main reason for failure was 2 fold: unappealing interiors (frankly they are drab) in design and materials which somehow affects the perception; and marketing! Their variant flip flob, price games, and feature plays didn't help the perception. The interiror quality hasn't really gone down that badly, but the way it makes you feel...:(... perception of that quality is just too bad!



Coming to the bodyshell, yes, it is definitely a step backwards, but it is still better choice than the big 2 (just shows our priorities!). Unstable only means that it cannot withstand any further accidents. VW is the only other better choice, but if you want to have some fun with their engines, then you have to fork out atleast 1 lac more!


And VW retained their build because they didn't have an option. If they were given the chance to, they would have gotten the Indian spec platform (that Skoda is in charge of development) much earlier. They have cut corners everywhere they had a chance to. Their ride has lost its charm long time back. Their spare quality has deteriorated quite a bit. The interiors are not like before.


Thanks,
Simple_car

[rajathv8]

Originally Posted by Simple_car

Unstable only means that it cannot withstand any further accidents.

Not only does it mean that the passenger cell cannot withstand further loading but also that it did not withstand the current loading. You can see the deformation in the video near the B pillar.

Here is the description of unstable from the Latin NCAP Assessment Protocol Document:
"CONCEPT: When the passenger compartment becomes unstable, any additional load can result
in unpredictable excessive further collapse of the passenger compartment. When the passenger
compartment becomes unstable the repeatability of the car’s response in the test becomes poor
and confidence in the car’s performance is reduced."

Interestingly the previous gen Figo was awarded a stable body shell rating by Global NCAP:
The protection offered to the driver head was poor and for this reason the star capping was applied Driver’s and passenger’s chest
protection was weak. The passengers’ knees could impact with dangerous structures in the dashboard lie the Tran fascia tube. The
bodyshell was rated as stable.

http://www.globalncap.org/wp-content...NO-Airbags.pdf

This is from Global NCAP of the Polo:
The protection offered to the driver and passenger head and neck was good thanks to the airbag, Driver’s and passenger chest
recived adequate protection. Both front passengers’ knees could impact with dangerous structures in the dashboard lie the Tran fascia
tube. The bodyshell was rated as stable and it can withstanding further loading which is a critical baseline to add airbags.