Renault India's current bestseller, the Kwid, was put through a crash-test by global safety watchdog, Global New Car Assessment Programme (Global NCAP). According to sources, the Kwid was part of the seven cars that were subject to crash-tests under the agency's 'Safer Cars for India' campaign.
On May 4, 2016, our sister publication, Autocar Professional, broke the news of the crash-tests involving seven cars from India. The results will be announced on May 17 in New Delhi, but it is understood that the Kwid scored a low rating.
However, according to industry sources, Renault has already reinforced the Kwid, and it could be crash-tested again. Thus far, seven compact car models from India have been crash-tested by Global NCAP. This does not include the Toyota Etios Liva's voluntary crash test. In January 2014, Global NCAP published crash-test results for five of India's best-known cars – the Maruti Alto 800, Hyundai i10, Ford Figo, Volkswagen Polo and the Tata Nano. All the cars received zero-star ratings in adult protection. Soon after, Volkswagen decided to offer the Polo for sale in India with two airbags as standard. This model then received a four-star safety rating.
In November 2014, Global NCAP announced crash-test results for Nissan's Datsun Go and the Suzuki Maruti Swift. Both cars received zero-star adult-protection ratings. Since the test of the Datsun Go, Nissan has made structural changes and also offered the option of driver side airbag to enhance its safety quotient. It is likely that Datsun will incorporate some of that in its soon-to-be-launched small car, the Redigo, which is based on the same platform as the Kwid.
Last month, Bajaj Auto's quadricycle Qute was also crash-tested by Global NCAP's affiliate Euro NCAP, and received a one-star rating.