India's Renault Lodgy fails Global NCAP crash test; Scores 0 star; Vitara Brezza scores four stars

The Renault Lodgy MPV which was launched in 2015 has scored a very poor zero star rating in a recently held crash test by the Global NCAP (new car assessment programme).

The zero-star rating can be ascribed to the lack of airbags which led the head and chest of the test dummy to come into contact with the steering wheel.

The crash of Lodgy during the test revealed an unstable structure with deformations going as far back as the rear door and a crack in the footwell area as well. The absence of ISOFIX anchorages meant that the child seats required to be installed with adult seatbelts which, unfortunately, could not prevent excessive forward excursion of the dummy representing a 3-year old child, which impacted its head on the backrest of the driver's seat.

The crash test is a part of Global NCAP's 'Safer Cars For India Campaign,'where the Lodgy scored abysmally zero stars for adult occupant protection, and an average two-star rating for child safety in the rear seat.

Like every other vehicle tested by Global NCAP, the Lodgy was tested at 64 kmph in the frontal offset crash test and but the compact vehicle has displayed totally unsafe results.

India's one of the fastest selling compact sports utility vehicle Vitara Brezza has scored an impressive four stars in the same Global NCAP crast test.

Vitara Brezza with impressive performance became the best performing car from market leader Maruti Suzuki's portfolio in India. The other products that have been tested by Global NCAP in the last four years including Maruti Alto, Swift Eeco, and Celerio, have all scored zero stars for adult protection due to absence of airbags in their body.

The 4-star safety rating in Global NCAP crast tests by Tata Nexon and Maruti Vitara Brezza proves that Indian cars are safe to drive. Indian government’s recent tightening of car crash test norms, the latest generation of India-spec vehicles have shown tremendous improvement in safety.

However, there is still a lot to be done so that other made-in-India cars can achieve acceptable level of safety standards which would in due course would cause less fatal road accidents.

India has been trying to applying more stringent safety regulations for its cars as reports revealed that at least 140,000 people die in road accidents in the country every year. From October 2017 it is mandatory for manufacturers to equip airbags as a standard feature in all their new launches. It would be extended to existing cars from next month.

The news spoils Renault India’s safety reputation following another model the Kwid’s poor performance in the previous crash test. In the last two months, the Lodgy’s sales in India has come down drastically to double-digit figures and the crash test results are surely not going to help the car in future.