Hyundai Santro is one of the most popular cars in the country. Recently, new Santro completed one year of operations in India. Hyundai Santro is the first model from Hyundai which has undergone the testing in this year’s first-round of ‘Safer Cars For India’ campaign by the Global NCAP.
The Santro secured an overall 2-star NCAP safety rating, translating into a single star for adult occupant protection (6.74 out of a possible 17 points) and two stars for child occupant protection (15 out of a possible 49 points). For both the front adult occupants, only the head & neck protection qualified as good. Despite a driver-side airbag, the chest protection for the driver was weak and marginal for the passenger. Due to an unstable footwell, the driver’s lower legs only had marginal protection. Surprisingly, none of the cars tested in the latest round (including the Santro), offer stable bodyshell integrity.
The Santro lost points in the child protection category, as Hyundai did not recommend a Child Restraint System (CRS) for the test. While the protection levels for an 18-month-old dummy were acceptable, a 3-year-old dummy did not fare well, as its head underwent contact during the impact. The absence of 3-point belts for all occupants and ISOFIX anchorages further reduced the Santro’s score.
In India Santro competes with the likes of Maruti Suzuki WagonR and Datsun Redi-GO. In the global NCAP crash test, WagonR got overall 2 star rating, whereas Datsun Redi-Go got just 1 star rating. In the compact SUV category, Tata’s Nexon scored a 5-star rating.
