Zero-star safety ratings for Indian cars

For the first time the Global New Car Assessment Program (NCAP) has independently crash tested five Indian-built domestic market vehicles, and the results are alarming.

Global NCAP says that many of India's most popular cars, including the best-selling Suzuki-Maruti Alto 800, have "shown a high-risk of life threatening injuries in road crashes".

Six cars were tested in all, which accounted for almost 20 per cent of all new car sales in India in 2013: Ford Figo, Suzuki-Maruti Alto 800, Hyundai i10, Volkswagen Polo and Tata Nano.

All of five cars were given zero-star ratings for adult occupant protection as none of the entry-level variants are fitted with airbags. When the Polo was optioned with two front airbags it gained a four-star adult occupant rating.

As a result of the test, Volkswagen has reportedly withdrawn the Polo without airbags from the Indian market.

The crash test conducted was a frontal impact at 64km/h.

Max Mosley, former FIA president and now chairman of Global NCAP, said it was "worrying" to see such lax safety levels in India's top-selling domestic vehicles.

"Poor structural integrity and the absence of airbags are putting the lives of Indian consumers at risk. They have a right to know how safe their vehicles are and to expect the same basic levels of safety as standard as customers in other part of the world," said Mosley.

India's number one selling car, the Suzuki-Maruti Alto 800, has a vehicle structure that "proved inadequate" and along with the Tata Nano and Hyundai i10 "collapsed to varying degrees, resulting in high risks of life-threatening injuries to the occupants," according to Global NCAP.

The Volkswagen Polo and Ford Figo's structures were rated as stable. Some of the Figo's development was undertaken at Ford Australia.

Child occupant safety levels were also sub-par according to Global NCAP.

As the crashworthiness of Indian cars comes into question, doubts have been cast over NCAPs testing procedures, after the US-based car safety institute IIHS found that most compact cars were unsafe. It's findings are at odds with many sub-light cars awarded five-star NCAP ratings, the highest/safest possible.