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Consumer-vehicle safety-testing body Global NCAP has asked Japanese carmaker Nissan to pull its compact car Datsun GO from the Indian market, saying it is "substandard".
Datsun GO, launched in the country last year, had failed crash test results recently conducted by the Global New Car Assessment Programme (NCAP). In a letter to Nissan Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Carlos Ghosn, NCAP Chairman Max Mosley urged for an "urgent withdrawal from the Indian and related markets".
"It is disappointing Nissan has authorised the launch of a model so substandard. The Datsun GO will fail to pass the United Nation (UN)'s frontal-impact rule. I will urge Nissan to pull the Datsun GO from India pending an urgent redesign of the car's body shell," Mosley said.
Applying the UN's minimum crash-test standards to all passenger car output worldwide is a key suggestion of the Global Plan for the UN Decade of Action for Road Safety, he added. "Given Ghosn's responsibilities as chairman and CEO of Nissan and president of the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association, he should show leadership in Nissan and on behalf of the vehicle sector. The leadership should correspond to the UN's expectation safety be improved during the Decade of Action."
A Nissan India spokesperson said, "We have not got the letter yet."
Maruti Suzuki Swift and Datsun GO failed to pass the Global New Car Assessment Program (NCAP) by a UK-based independent charity focused on consumer-oriented vehicle safety initiatives. Global NCAP released the results earlier this week.
Nissan and Maruti Suzuki had both said that their vehicles meet local regulatory requirements. Auto industry body SIAM had also defended Maruti Suzuki and Nissan on the issue. SIAM Director-General Vishnu Mathur had said that every country has its own safety requirements and that the protocol followed by Global NCAP was not designed for India and tests must be conducted based on the conditions here.
According to the Global NCAP, an umbrella body of consumer car safety testing bodies, crash tests of Nissan Datsun GO and Maruti-Suzuki Swift demonstrated a high risk of life-threatening injuries. Both cars received zero-star safety rating for their adult occupant protection. The tests were conducted at a speed of 64 km per hour.
As per its test, Global NCAP said Maruti Suzuki Swift scored zero stars for adult occupant protection and just one star for child occupant protection. "The Swift's vehicle structure showed signs of collapsing in the crash and was rated as unstable. The car's lack of standard-fit airbags meant that the driver's head makes direct contact with the steering wheel - the dummy readings indicate a high probability of life threatening injuries", Global NCAP said in a statement.
Nissan's Datsun GO also scored zero stars for adult occupant protection and just two stars for child occupant protection. The statement added, "The Datsun GO's vehicle structure collapsed in the crash and was rated as unstable. The car's lack of airbags meant that the driver's head makes direct contact with the steering wheel and dashboard - the dummy readings indicate a high probability of life-threatening injuries. The failure of the body shell makes it redundant to fit an airbag." However, unlike the GO, in Swift fitting with airbags would improve occupant protection, Global NCAP said.
Earlier this year, best-selling small cars in India including Maruti Alto 800, Tata Nano, Ford Figo, Hyundai i10 and Volkswagen Polo, had failed Global NCAP crash tests showing high risk of life-threatening injuries in road accidents. The tests done on cars bought from Indian showrooms and later shipped to the testing facility highlighted shortcomings in the structural integrity of the vehicles tested. Only entry-level variants were chosen for the tests. These vehicles usually do not have airbags, a basic prerequisite globally to pass a safety test.
Combined sales of these five cars accounted for around 20 per cent of all new cars sold in India last year. The crash tests were carried out at 64 kmph.
NCAP had also assessed the same models against the UN's basic crash test and all the cars except the Volkswagen Polo passed that minimum standard. This 40 per cent offset frontal impact test at 56 kmph is now widely applied by major manufacturing countries and regions, including Australia, China, the European Union, Japan and Malaysia.
The Global Plan for the UN's Decade of Action for Road Safety recommends that all member states apply this standard, although it is not yet applied in India. Despite India recording the highest road fatalities in the world, the share of life-saving features such as airbags in cars and SUVs is among the lowest in the world. Customers in India usually compromise on safety issues to benefit from lower price tags.
