[CentreOfGravity]

The Maruti Baleno has been crash tested by the Bharat NCAP. It scored a respectable 4-star safety rating for adult occupants and a 3-star child occupant rating. Two versions were tested, the now-discontinued version with 2 airbags and the top-spec variant with 6 airbags. The 4-star rating is applicable for both versions, but there is a difference in scores. Interestingly, the crash tests was conducted in April 2024.

2-airbag version:
Adult occupant rating: 24.04 / 32.00
Child occupant rating: 34.81 / 49.00

https://youtu.be/pxhDajvimLo?si=ZPgXUaquPQYw6cAS

6-airbag version:
Adult occupant rating: 26.52 / 32.00
Child occupant rating: 34.81 / 49.00

https://youtu.be/scMUHUNnycs?si=eOZaTerpEUDfa04e

Official Images:









Detailed fact sheets:

[sharmanova]

Images from the crash test:

[RaghuVis]

Interesting!

The BNCAP testing for Baleno took place in April 2024, as mentioned above, which is 14 months ago. The Swift Dzire BNCAP testing, however, occurred in 2025 (month unspecified). But both results are published on the same day. Possibly to soften the criticism of Baleno ratings?

Every step of BNCAP seems to be a misstep!

[skarthiksr]

Finally, I am feeling much much relieved today. Back in December 2023, I had a necessity to get our own car and I was looking for a 4+* NCAP tested automatic car with Electronic stability control(ESC) and 6 airbags with a budget < 10L ex-showroom. And, the matter of fact was that, there was not a single NCAP tested car within this budget having both ESC and 6 airbags back then. The only car which could almost make the cut was Renault Kiger because it had 4* rating with ESC and 4 airbags, but missed out curtain airbags. The cars which had the safety features I wanted, but untested were Hyundai i10/Exter and Toyota Glanza/Maruti Baleno. I was in a spot for nearly 2 weeks without being able to take a call. Finally, I took a gamble and went ahead with top-end Glanza based on two logical reasonings.

1. Baleno/Glanza had an altogether new facelift in 2022, which based on the updates was a totally new car. They added 3 point seatbelt for rear middle seat as a separate update in May 2023 which was critical for NCAP standard. So, I felt they are probably attempting to be NCAP compliant.
2. Maruti had made a statement then that they have sent Baleno to Bharat NCAP. If they were not confident, they wouldn't have sent is what I thought.

While I wish it had 5 stars, 4 stars is good enough for my satisfaction. However, one critical point is that, I own a Glanza and not Baleno and in the past, Magnite and Kiger scores were not exactly the same, but I still hope the ratings should be applicable for Glanza as well and if at all there is a difference, it should be marginal. Hopefully.

Btw, my car is November 2023 manufactured and the results are for April 2024. Hope no updates were done to the car within these few months.

[saikishor]

Is there any mention of bodyshell integrity?

[sunikkat]

There was a time when getting 4/5 star ratings were rare for cars sold in India. Off late most of the cars tested are 4/5 star. I like to keep a positive attitude here and believe the quality on safety measures have really improved in new cars.

[ToThePoint]

Originally Posted by saikishor

Is there any mention of bodyshell integrity?

If you see the frontal crash images, the bodyshell has not developed any deformations, so it's stable.

[AdityaDeane]

https://youtu.be/pxhDajvimLo

Who else noticed Curtain Airbags deploying in the Side Pole Impact in the last part of this video (time stamp 3:32)?

This is supposed to be the model with only 2 airbags!

[ron178]

The wording in BNCAP's release is quite misleading. The "2-airbag" and "6-airbag" ratings are really not that at all!

More clearly, the "2-airbag" rating is considering that 6 airbags are optional (and they are included in some tests), while the "6-airbag" rating is considering 6 airbags are standard* (and they are included in all tests, for practical purposes at least).

The results should have been titled:
Maruti Baleno (2 airbags standard, 6 airbags optional)
Maruti Baleno (6 airbags standard)

Both the results are using 6-airbag variants in the pole test, and both of them are considering that 6 airbags are at least available as an option (without which >3 stars are not possible). The only difference is the variant used in the side barrier test.

As has been reiterated time and again on the forum before, the BNCAP and new GNCAP protocols do not actually have a provision for a dual rating for base + optional variants (unlike say Euro NCAP). Instead, the way it is structured, the single rating for a model is supposed to already take into account the distribution of safety spec on different variants.


About the performance: personally I am reasonably confident that BNCAP has deemed the Baleno's footwell unstable, because that would explain both the yellow feet as well as Maruti not submitting sled test data to remove the knee penalties like the Dzire.

Even then, the 6-airbags-standard version (26.52 points) s just shy of 5 stars (27 points) by less than half a point, and in fact if it was GNCAP it would have scored 1 or 2 more for seatbelt reminders and cleared the threshold assuming the individual test results are identical. But we would need an official result to make any claims.

[green tea man]

Originally Posted by ron178

About the performance: personally I am reasonably confident that BNCAP has deemed the Baleno's footwell unstable, because that would explain both the yellow feet as well as Maruti not submitting sled test data to remove the knee penalties like the Dzire.

Even then, the 6-airbags-standard version (26.52 points) s just shy of 5 stars (27 points) by less than half a point, and in fact if it was GNCAP it would have scored 1 or 2 more for seatbelt reminders and cleared the threshold ....
.

What about other structures of the body. From the other scores can it be inferred how the body shell performed?

Talking about body shell stability. This reminded me, you or someone else discussing the meaning of "Body Shell Stable" under GNCAP in one of the older threads of a different crash test. If I am remembering correctly the actual meaning of Stable or Unstable body shell is not so straight forward.

By clearing threshold are you inferring it may have gotten a 5 star in GNCAP?

[volkman10]

> Maruti Suzuki Baleno was tested by Bharat NCAP twice in April.

> First with standard dual front airbags.

> But then Maruti decided to make 6 airbags standard. So it was tested again.

> Scores went up marginally. Star rating remained same.

> Variants tested: Delta/Alpha AMT.


Source:

[GTO]

Considering all cars score 5-stars in the BNCAP (well, almost all), I don't think this news is good news. BNCAP is becoming a useless test where everyone gets 5 stars, and a small handful get 4. The GNCAP offered 100X more value and actually highlighted the poor performers. With BNCAP, one would think every car sold in India is built with the safety standards of Mercedes.

[anshu1101]

Originally Posted by GTO

Considering all cars score 5-stars in the BNCAP (well, almost all), I don't think this news is good news. BNCAP is becoming a useless test where everyone gets 5 stars, and a small handful get 4.

This is the very first thought that came to my mind when I saw the news yesterday. BNCAP is handing out 5 stars like candies.

This feeling of the BNCAP being useless gets even stronger given the flimsy build quality of the Baleno, which is a well known fact.

I haven't seen a single car rated below 4 stars in any of the crash tests under BNCAP.

[Asish_VK]

Maruti's getting 4 and 5 stars in BNCAP — not sure if that’s a proud moment for Maruti or a red flag on BNCAP.

Reminds me of this actually

LINK

At this rate, even an auto-rickshaw might get 3 stars for "emotional resilience."


PS : I hope I am wrong here. Genuinely want to see Maruti cars having good safety as 50% of Indian car owners are Maruti customers.

[ron178]

Originally Posted by green tea man

What about other structures of the body. From the other scores can it be inferred how the body shell performed?

Hard to infer, as the marginal chest protection could either be because of high chest compression or because of a modifier for the bodyshell becoming unstable. But considering that most Marutis so far have been marginal without the modifier (Alto, Dzire) and weak without (others) I am inclined to believe it has remained stable.

Originally Posted by green tea man

By clearing threshold are you inferring it may have gotten a 5 star in GNCAP?

If 6 airbags were standard, and also the test performance was reproducible across NCAPs (quite likely), then and only then yes, as GNCAP also requires for 2025 that curtain airbags are available on at least 90% production volume of the model.

Originally Posted by GTO

BNCAP is becoming a useless test where everyone gets 5 stars, and a small handful get 4.

I think that is in large part not because of the protocols but because BNCAP are not selecting and buying their own cars to test. This is a similar case to ASEAN NCAP which only rarely does tests not sponsored by carmakers (and those are all very bad, usually). That means for the most part it is only the good performers being tested.