Indigenously made Tata Nexon, a compact SUV from Tata Motors, has got four star ratings from Global New Car Assessment Programme (GNCAP), a UK-based independent body that conducts crash safety tests on cars across the world. GNCAP on Tuesday released its first set of ‘SaferCarsForIndia’ results for 2018 after the crash tests conducted on the recently launched Tata Nexon.
The Nexon, which is sold in its standard version with frontal double airbags, frontal double pretensioners, ABS brakes and ISOFIX anchorages, achieved a strong result of four stars for adult occupant protection and three stars for child occupant protection.
Tata released the Nexon with safety features that can offer four star adult occupant protection with good protection for head and neck of driver and passenger and adequate protection for their chests with a stable structure at 64km/h offset deformable barrier crash test.
The ISOFIX anchorages with ISOFIX Child Restraint Systems (CRS) made available by Tata, helped the model to achieve three stars for child occupant protection.
The rearward facing CRS installed with ISOFIX anchorages showed good protection to the 18 months old child, while the ISOFIX forwards facing installed CRS offered good protection for head and limited protection to the chest. David Ward, secretary general of Global NCAP said: “The 4 stars awarded to the Tata Nexon represent a strong result from a major Indian car manufacturer. This impressive safety performance is comfortably above the new crash test standards applied in India to new models since October 2017. It is encouraging to see Tata aiming high for safety and a great example for others to follow. The race is clearly on for India’s first 5 star car!”
Rohit Baluja, president of the Institute of Road Traffic Education (IRTE) said: “I wish to congratulate Tata on this good result. It shows that ‘Made in India’ and high levels of safety go together well. With excellent efforts like this from Tata and the new crash test standards now applied by the Indian government we are going to see a steady improvement in the safety of new cars across the country and this will help to make our roads safer.”
‘SaferCarsForIndia’ campaign was launched by the Global New Car Assessment Programme (Global NCAP) in 2014 with the objective of promoting safer vehicles in the country and the establishment of a Bharat NCAP Programme. Between 2014 and 2017, Global NCAP has completed 25 safety assessments which have acted as an important catalyst in the safety improvement of Indian cars.
Meanwhile, Global NCAP will host its first ever World Congress in Delhi from September 26-29, 2018. The Congress will bring together the community of New Car Assessment Programmes (NCAPs) worldwide to share experience about independent consumer vehicle safety rating. The meeting will also provide a unique opportunity to assess the contribution that safer vehicles can make to the United Nations’ Decade of Action for Road Safety and the Sustainable Development Goals.
The Delhi World Congress will facilitate high level dialogue on a global roadmap for vehicle safety with the automobile manufacturers, senior policy makers, road safety experts, and fleet managers. A key theme of the World Congress will be how NCAPs worldwide have succeeded in building a market for safer cars by raising consumer awareness of the critical safety choices they make when buying a new vehicle. The experience of NCAPs in South East Asia and Latin America and their relevance to similar emerging markets in India and Africa will also be discussed.
