Do you know your vehicle’s crash test rating?
If you have bought a new car from a reputable brand, that vehicle’s performance in international crash tests should be a matter of public record.
That means that when you are shopping for a new car, you can quickly and easily look up how well your preferred vehicle fared in different crash tests. This is usually shown in a star rating, with 0 stars being the worst performance and 5 stars reserved for the best performers.
Most manufacturers submit their vehicles for mandatory crash tests to the Global New Car Assessment Programme (GNCAP) or other testing authorities, especially after this has become a legal requirement in many countries. At the same time, the GNCAP has tested many cars that are not submitted for crash tests by simply buying these vehicles and testing them in front- and side-impact crash tests.
The GNCAP and the United Nations, through its Decade for Road Safety (2011 - 2020) initiative, have done a great deal to test more vehicles, making owners aware of the importance of vehicle safety and educating motorists about the importance of responsible driving.
Interestingly, the rankings of all the vehicles tested by the GNCAP have been published on their websites and the best and worst performers are listed in their respective #SaferCarsForIndia and #SaferCarsForAfrica rankings.
The Mahindra XUV300, with two airbags, tops both lists as the safest vehicle ever tested by GNCAP.
Why do crash tests matter?
Many vehicle brands would argue that their safety is similar to those of their competitors, simply because their car is also fitted with airbags and ABS brakes. This is of course not true, since the structural integrity of a car, the way in which all safety systems are designed and integrated into the car and the way that these active and passive safety systems work together in a crisis are what matter.
The best way to test the structural integrity of a car and the interplay of the car’s safety equipment is by simulating the types of crashes that are most often encountered on the road.
In the case of the GNCAP, two brand new cars are fitted with “adult” and “child” dummies and crashed in a frontal collision against a fixed barrier, while a second car is rammed with a fast-moving metal sledge that is designed to mimic the force and impact of a car hitting another car from the side.
Through extreme slow-motion cameras, detailed electronic measuring equipment and sensors in the crash test dummies where a human’s main organs and joints would be, the scientists working for the GNCAP can measure the effectiveness of a car’s design and safety equipment.
A quick glance at the GNCAP listings shows that many cars fitted with active and passive safety equipment like seatbelts, airbags and ABS brakes, only received 0 or 2 stars in their respective crash tests.
One of the main reasons for this is that the vehicle was not designed and built with safety in mind. These cars’ doors and roof often buckle under the pressure of a frontal or side-impact, rendering the airbags and other safety equipment virtually useless in protecting the occupants.
In the case of the best-performing car in the GNCAP tests - the Mahindra XUV300 - the ultra-rigid bodyshell not only withstood the impact very well, but its design allowed the force to be channelled out and away from the occupants, which means that the dummies did not have to absorb as much impact force.
In its crash-test report, which can be viewed here (http://www.globalncap.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/SaferCarsForAfrica-Mahindra-XUV-300-fact-sheet.pdf), the GNCAP said that the XUV300 was so well designed and built that its bodyshell could absorb even higher impact forces than what it was subjected to.
What Should you do with the Crash Rating?
The crash test ratings of the GNCAP are of the utmost importance to you if you are shopping around for a new vehicle.
Knowing that your car has a full five-star rating means that your family will be better protected, with a smaller chance of serious injury, than if you drive a vehicle with no or a low crash-test rating.
But crash-test ratings are not only important when you are buying a car. Manufacturers use the detailed scientific findings from these tests to improve their future vehicle designs and to validate the safety design features on vehicles that they currently manufacture.
At the same time, many insurers, legal experts and accident reconstruction specialists look at a car’s performance in crash tests to determine how safe they are, what kind of insurance class they would fall into and how they would fare in a real-world accident.
Ultimately, a crash-test rating from a reputable organisation like the GNCAP says much more about how safe you and your family will be in a car than does a mere list of safety features on a car’s specification sheet. Remember, the higher the rating, the better the protection in the case of an accident and if you find a vehicle with a five-star rating like the Mahindra XUV300, you cannot go wrong.
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