In a latest round of crash tests conducted under ‘Safer Cars for Africa’ initiative by the Global New Car Assessment Program (GNCAP) and AA South Africa, Toyota Etios and Datsun GO+ were two of the made-in-India cars that were evaluated. GNCAP had conducted a similar program, earlier, called ‘Safer Cars for India’ to evaluate Indian cars.

Toyota’s Indian manufactured hatchback, Etios Liva has bagged 4-star rating in the crash test. The car scored a four-star rating in the frontal crash, which was conducted at 64kph. The Etios Liva was certified as stable in the test and offered good overall protection for adult passengers. The same car scored three stars in child safety, where Toyota-recommended child seats were used.

Another Indian-made car that was tested in the same event was the Datsun GO+ which miserably failed the crash test, scoring a one-star rating. Go+ was rated unstable in frontal crash as the steering wheel movement recorded high compression to the chest of the driver dummy. In the child occupant safety, the car scored a slightly better two stars.

Indian-made Datsun GO (a five-seater hatchback of same make) underwent a crash testing in South Africa in September, 2016, where the car failed horribly, scoring 0/135.

Other cars that participated in the current crash testing event were Volkswagen Polo Vivo, Renault Sandero and Chery QQ3. The Polo and Sandero scored three stars in the test while the Chery QQ3 stood last with a ‘zero’ star rating.