The Toyota Etios Liva has scored 4-stars in Global NCAP crash tests which puts its safety on par with the Volkswagen Polo. The car tested was equipped with dual front airbags.
A couple of years ago, Global NCAP tested popular Indian cars for frontal crash tests as part of the ‘Safer Cars for India’ campaign. For a frontal impact speed of 64 km/hr, all the cars namely the Maruti Suzuki Alto 800, Swift, Hyundai i10, Ford Figo, Volkswagen Polo, Tata Nano and Nissan’s Datsun GO failed to clear the test; shockingly each and every vehicle scoring a ZERO in a scale of five which also meant that, in case of an accident, the occupants would be subjected to life threatening injuries with possibility of death too.
Post the results and nationwide protests for safer cars, the government immediately pitched into the situation and announced the commencement of Bharat New Vehicle Assessment Program (BNVSAP) where all new vehicles will be subjected to frontal and side impact tests at (56 km/hr and 50 km/hr respectively). The implementation date for crash tests for new vehicles is October 2017 while that for existing models would be October 2019.
Following the same, German giant Volkswagen in no time announced mandating airbags across all variants for all models. The Polo was tested again and received a 4 star safety rating. Toyota then revealed its plan exclusively to MotorBeam (HERE) and we also spoke to the company in person, they were confident that the Etios twins would fare well in crash tests.
Though Toyota vehicles (Indian market) were not tested by Global NCAP, the Japanese car maker took measures by standardising airbags across the Etios range. Earlier this year, Toyota voluntarily approached Global NCAP to test their vehicles and provide a star rating for its crashworthiness. The Toyota Etios Liva was tested for frontal impact at 64 km/hr (Global NCAP and WHO standards), the car cleared the test with 4 stars and 2 stars rating for adult and child occupant protection respectively. The body shell integrity is stable. The vehicle was not subjected to a side impact test.
The reason for the good performance of the Toyota Etios can be attributed to the steel used in the vehicle, the Japanese automaker not sourcing locally but importing steel from overseas for better quality and safety. With the implementation date of Bharat NVSAP approaching, manufacturers have started offering their base variant vehicles with ABS and airbags for selected models. We hope that by the mid of next year, all four wheelers would be equipped with this minimum safety equipment.
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