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Originally Posted by bharathan Going through GNCAP, I see a lot of variants of the same car, which get a low rating for variant without airbags and a rating of 2-3 stars higher with the additions of dual airbags. |
You would have seen certain cars that got zero stars with no airbags and then got an updated rating of four stars etc when they were retested with airbags (ex. Volkswagen Polo and TATA Zest).
That is because without a driver side airbag any car gets a default zero rating in the GNCAP.
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Originally Posted by bharathan So, I guess it’s safe to assume that the top end variant with 6 airbags will get atleast a 4 star rating. The unstable rating on the body is very disappointing though. |
No, it's not safe to assume anything as far as crash tests are concerned. Otherwise you would have some old uncle saying praising his Mahindra Scorpio for it's tough and robust build only to be rendered speechless when he sees the roof fold like tinfoil in the crash test video.
Standard crash tests give you an idea of how a car may perform in certain limited scenarios. They are not perfect by any means but they are a damn sight better than anyone "feelings" or "assumptions".
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Originally Posted by bharathan Also is it prudent to assume that the Creta 2020 also will suffer the same fate on the tests, even though they are manufactured in 2 diff plants and potentially different suppliers of body parts? |
As an extension of the previous statement no we can't assume anything.
What we can do is look at a manufacturers track record on safety. The Korean sisters (Hyundai and KIA) have never deemed Indians worthy of anything more than 3 star cars. All the while they have been selling much more safer versions of the same car abroad.
Look at it from that perspective and there is no way that I could hope for anything more than 3 stars for the Creta 2020 unless a standardized crash test shows otherwise.
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Originally Posted by bharathan For people assuming curtain airbags don’t make any difference, please watch the GNCAP test video where the heads of the dummies whiplash to after the initial impact. And side airbags protect the ribs
And pelvis.
I’m seeing so much praise for Altroz and Nexon - but both don’t offer curtain airbags in any variant. In most of the head on crashes the curtain airbags can potentially save head injury and life. |
GNCAP is mostly targeted at developing countries. The tests are involve a frontal overlap crash (there are side impact tests conducted but I am not sure if they influence the score yet).
I am not sure how an airbag is meant to reduce impact to the ribs and pelvis when even the base structure of these cars is unstable. Afterall, the other term for airbags is SRS which stands for '
supplemental restraint system'. With an unstable body structure that airbag is probably not going to do much good.
If in the future GNCAP takes electronic safety aids to calculate the overall score then it's score will be higher than the standard variant.
Also, if we are trying to provide a lifeline to Seltos then please remember than Mahindra sells the XUV3OO for a lost less than KIA Seltos and has got seven airbags with the highest score in GNCAP.
Are we going to say that a conglomerate like KIA can't match them in engineering prowess or that somehow KIA is lining the inside of their door pads with gold which increases it's cost substantially? No KIA has decided to position its car as feature loaded but didn't care about its safety. It's there prerogative.
But potential customers deserve to know about this beforehand.
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Originally Posted by bharathan I’m ever surprised they got such a high rating without those airbags. Is there a subjective element involved in deciding the impact protection on particular part of the body? On the GNCAP Altroz video, The head impact protection was rated good, thought the head did have a whiplash into the B pillar. Didn’t look ‘good’ to me!
I just hope the ratings are “truly independent”. |
If there is a subjective element in a
standarized test then please understand any advantage provided would be to all its participants.
GNCAP crash test protocol is public and available for all see and understand.
- http://www.globalncap.org/wp-content...ocol-Adult.pdf
- http://www.globalncap.org/wp-content...ocol-Child.pdf
I did expect the marketing teams and Sales people of KIA/Hyundai to attack the legitimacy of Global NCAP once the crash test results were out but can't believe that there are TEAM-Bhp members doing the same.
If KIA doesn't care for our lives (fair enough - they are a business after all) then why are we concerned about their bottom line.