The organisation carried out frontal impact tests at 64kph on India’s best-selling car, the Suzuki-Maruti Alto 800, along with the Tata Nano, Ford Figo, Hyundai i10 and Volkswagen Polo – combined sales of these five cars account for around 20% of all the new cars sold in India last year. All the cars received zero-star adult protection ratings.

Global NCAP chose the entry-level version of each model and as a result none were fitted with airbags as standard. The results highlight major differences in the structural integrity of the vehicles tested.

Max Mosley, chairman of Global NCAP, said: ‘India is now a major global market and production centre for small cars, so it’s worrying to see levels of safety that are 20 years behind the five-star standards now common in Europe and North America. Poor structural integrity and the absence of airbags are putting the lives of Indian consumers at risk. They have a right to know how safe their vehicles are and to expect the same basic levels of safety as standard as customers in other part of the world.’

In the Suzuki-Maruti Alto 800, the Tata Nano and the Hyundai i10, the vehicle structures proved inadequate and collapsed to varying degrees, resulting in high risks of life-threatening injuries to the occupants. The extent of the structural weaknesses in these models were such that fitting airbags would not be effective in reducing the risk of serious injury. The Ford Figo and Volkswagen Polo had structures that remained stable – and, therefore, with airbags fitted, protection for the driver and front passenger would be much improved.

Coinciding with the Global NCAP tests, Volkswagen has decided to withdraw the non-airbag version of the Polo from sale in India. Because of this, Global NCAP agreed to a request from VW to assess a version of the Polo that has two airbags fitted as standard as from now. It added that other manufacturers had the same opportunity. The protection proved much better and this airbag-equipped model received a four-star rating for adult occupant protection.

Global NCAP also assessed the same models against the UN’s basic crash test. This 40% offset frontal impact test at 56km/h is now widely applied by major manufacturing countries and regions, including Australia, China, European Union, Japan and Malaysia. Only the Ford Figo passed, despite not having a driver airbag when the dummy’s head narrowly avoided hitting the steering wheel directly. The Volkswagen Polo with two airbags was awarded a pass based on dummy readings from the 64km/h crash.