Five Indian cars on Tuesday failed convincingly on safety parameters during a crash test conducted by Global New Car Assessment Programme, an organisation in London. The Mahindra Scorpio, Hyundai Eon, Maruti Suzuki Eeco, Maruti Suzuki Celerio and three variants of the Renault Kwid were forced to crash at a speed of 64 kmph. They were then rated on passenger safety in such a situation and scored zero stars for adults. However, all of them scored two stars for the safety of child passengers, except the Celerio, which was given one star.
Officials at the testing centre said that even a variant of the Kwid that has airbags got a zero rating for adult safety. NCAP General Secretary David Ward pointed out that both a “stable body shell” and “at least front airbags” are crucial for a car to be considered stable during a crash. Ward said it is surprising that carmakers release vehicles that are “so clearly sub-standard”, and that they should follow international crash test regulations and promote the use of airbags.
Later in the day, Maruti Suzuki denied the report, saying all its products are safe and exceed India's safety standards in most cases, ANI reported.
Here's a video of one of the crash tests:
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