[nagr22]

Hello BHPians!

Thanks to GNCAP and our home grown manufacturers like Tata and Mahindra, we are seeing a huge surge in awareness about car safety among Indians. We have many threads discussing about the safety (or lack of it) for various cars. I did not come across any thread which consolidates the preference for safety among BHPians when it comes to choosing their cars, so I am starting one.

So, what was or what would be your minimum preference in terms of safety star rating when you chose your car? Do you only buy 5 star rates cars or are you ok with a lower rating car if it satisfies you in some other department? Please cast your vote and let us know.

I request everyone to be honest and not worry about getting judged even if you own or prefer to buy a zero rated car! Afterall, ANY car is safer than a two wheeler and car ownership is still nascent in our country.

Coming to my opinion, I brought my first car (pre-owned) 3 years ago and while researching about cars I accidentally came across car safety and GNCAP and once I understood what it meant, I decided that I only want a 5 star rated car. There were none those days and I settled for a 4 star rated Etios. When I decided to buy a new one, my first priority was safety of my family and that made me choose Toyota Yaris (7 Airbag version) and I brought it without even test driving any of the C Segment sedans becauae none of them had so many airbags at the price point I was looking at. Though Yaris is 5 star rated in ASEAN NCAP, it is still not tested by GNCAP and I am keeping my fingers crossed that it will be 5 star here as well.

Please go ahead and let us know your preferences. Thanks!

[Skorp_Knight]

I feel the poll should have an option for 4-5 stars, as according to G-NCAP, 4 stars and above is a good safety rating, below which the cars actually start getting unsafe.

[chiefpk]

Originally Posted by Skorp_Knight

I feel the poll should have an option for 4-5 stars, as according to G-NCAP, 4 stars and above is a good safety rating, below which the cars actually start getting unsafe.

+1

I must not go with a car less than 4 stars. 4 Stars is a must. And that too of a car being sold in India, tested by GNCAP, valid for Indian market. Not a car made in India valid for some other country and being tested by Asean/Euro NCAP.

We decided on the Tigor over Altroz just because we were sure of Tata's safety aspect. Real life scenario of build and safety of a Tiago/Tigor is also excellent, IMHO.

Mods:Please change the poll options to 4-5 insted of 3-4 and 5

Regards,

Pranav

[anb]

I wish the government make GNCAP rating mandatory. If I want to purchase a diesel SUV for 25 lakhs, none of them have a GNCAP rating. So voted for what is GNCAP rated safety stars for the vehicles in that segment ?

[Turbokick]

Sorry but the poll doesn't really make much sense. I understand the emotions are high right now but if given the option everybody will want the highest rating for their cars. Right now we have just 3 cars with 5 star rating in the country (there should be more cars which would qualify for the same no doubt but they are yet to be tested). But the real challenge will be to understand how far the BHPians are going to make sure they get a 'safe stable car' as their next purchase?

Its rather easy to tick out the cars which scored poorly in the test. But what about the rest? The ones which are yet to be tested? And what if you assume the car to be safe (Say a Harrier or a EcoSport) and the GNCAP ratings are something different?

[WhiteSierra]

I was contemplating on buying a Kia Seltos for my brother in January 2021 for his birthday, but after looking at the latest crash test results and also the posts in Nexon EV thread (reliability, connected car features - personal connection like wishing for owner's birthday, all initial niggles sorted out, excellent support from Tata Motors and Tata Power), I decided to buy a Tata again after owning 4 Telco cars.

We are loyal Toyota customers / fans, but there is no exciting product launch from Toyota in the near future, I always loved the looks of Kia Seltos, especially the alloys on GT line version but I want my family to be safe, the facelift version of Nexon is also good compared to the first generation Nexon, Tata got it right here. The only thing I'm thinking is about the range limitation and range anxiety while driving out during short trips in and around the city, I'm now struck between a Diesel Nexon vs Nexon EV.


I don't know why people still complain about Tata authorized service centers, most of them are doing good job these days, there are minimal complaints. We have 3 1st generation Sierras with no issues, a friend of mine has a Safari 2.2 which recently completed 200k kms, I saw many happy Hexa, Tiago, Nexon and Harrier owners in this forum. If authorized service centers aren't doing a good job, you still have the option to move on to FNGs after the warranty is completed. There's nothing like a safe car and it will protect you when it matters the most. There's a thin line between life and death during an accident, and that line is determined by how safe your car is. Maruti and Hyundai being in top 1 and 2 in Indian automobile industry sales, should actually respect the safety of their Indian customers. I really appreciate Tata and Mahindra for this.

[dsr001]

Originally Posted by anb

I wish the government make GNCAP rating mandatory. If I want to purchase a diesel SUV for 25 lakhs, none of them have a GNCAP rating. So voted for what is GNCAP rated safety car ?

This is the basic point. While we are indebted to Tata and Mahindra for getting some of their models tested, it is surprising that their large cars are either not having a rating (Harrier, XUV 500), or haven't done well (Scorpio).

Also, I've mentioned in another thread, Tata is not mentioning the 5 star rating for the current Nexon in official ads, brochures, website (as it does prominently for Altroz, and as Mahindra does for XUV 300)

[Vid6639]

Why will anyone vote they want to buy a 0 star car as their next purchase. Everyone will absolutely want a 5 star car.

Nobody expected the Kia Seltos to be a 3 star car when they bought one.

And the guys who buy Swift, Kwid don't buy for safety.

Obviously nobody is going to vote for 0 so not really sure the point of the poll is.

[Abhi5868]

Not settling for anything lesser than 5Stars.

Our current car(Creta2018) feels flimsy and I'm not saying this after the Seltos result but something dad told me after completing the 10,000 km mark.

Our next car is likely to be a JEEP/VW. The Koreans haven't been one bit of reliable and fuss free everyone deems them to be. What we want is a world class product, since anyways we'd be paying more than our foreign counterparts.

[GreyNomad]

My first car was a WagonR. The second was a Vento. Had a close shave where a truck bumped into the front passenger door. Got out with just a door dent, shaken nerves and a newfound respect for vehicular build safety. Currently own a SCross - the best VFM crossover that was GNCAP 5star rated (when I bought it). Next would be a Harrier or XUV500, provided I’m able to save enough for it ��

[Pigcee]

I bought my first car 6 months ago, the Tata Altroz.
Thanks to Team-BHP, I took the plunge knowing beforehand what to expect!
No regrets whatsoever, especially since the 5-stars became coveted in recent times!
All my future cars will have to be 5-star rated.
Attaching a picture of my pride and joy.

[andafunda]

Last car was a 4 star. Current is a 5 star / CKD.

Safety is most important. Every other feature is optional.

[nagr22]

Originally Posted by Vid6639

Why will anyone vote they want to buy a 0 star car as their next purchase. Everyone will absolutely want a 5 star car.

Nobody expected the Kia Seltos to be a 3 star car when they bought one.

And the guys who buy Swift, Kwid don't buy for safety.

Obviously nobody is going to vote for 0 so not really sure the point of the poll is.

I respectfully disagree that everyone will absolutely want a 5 star car. If that was true, we wouldn't be having ownership reports for non 5 star cars in this forum.

There could be many reasons why someone might buy/brought a 0 star rated car. It could be as simple as lack of options in their budget (For e.g., there are no safe cars below 4L in India right now).

The purpose of this thread was to understand how much weightage our fellow members give to safety when buying their cars. I am sure every team bhpian does not prefer ONLY a 5 star or >3 star car.

I agree that majority votes so far in this poll is for >3 star cars but that does not mean no one is buying less safe cars right? When the time comes to vote with our wallets, an overwhelming majority does not consider safety as a top priority. There are many genuine reasons for it like budget, lack of options, safer than a two wheeler, lack of awareness etc.

I really wonder why the votes for 0-2 stars is less in this poll. If genuinely people are going to buy safer cars from now, kudos! But if the owners/prospective owners of less safe cars are not voting due to fear of getting judged or stigma, please don't worry and cast your vote. The poll is anonymous so no one will know.

If you guys still feel this is pointless, I am ok to end it here and we can close the thread. Thanks

[punto_]

I voted for 5 star, however I'll be okay with a 4* rated car too.
We don't have many models with 4/5* hope that changes soon so that we will have more options to choose from.

[Godzilla]

I feel like I am repeating myself BUT having ESP in car is equally/more important than crash ratings.

Due to Crash testing results we tend to focus just on crash testing. However ESP is considered the best safety invention for cars after seat belts.

It is made mandatory in Eu long back and India is planning to make it mandatory by 2023.

I would urge people to look at safety holistically.

Buy a car with ESP in your budget

My next car if I buy in 2021 must have

• ABS EBD
• Decent handling under hard braking and sudden steering inputs
• 2 Airbags
• ESP
• 4 star crash rating on Indian version of the car.
• Isofix
• Rear camera and parking sensor
• TPMS with temperature

Good to have below

• 5 star crash rating
• 6 Airbags or more
• Forward collision warning with Autonomous emergency braking
• Blindspot monitoring
• 360 camera
• Hill hold assist
• Lane departure warning and lane keep assist
• Driver fatigue alarm