The undisputed king of the compact SUV space, the Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza SUV has just come out of a Global NCAP (New Car Assesment programme) crash test with flying colours. The compact SUV scored a four-star rating in the test conducted by the safety watchdog. The star rating given is a cumulative result based on the car’s overall performance in crash protection as well as the smooth deployment of avoidance technologies that car is equipped with. With dual-airbags and Isofix mounts supplied as standard, the Maruti Suzuki Vitara Brezza received four stars for adult occupant protection ruled as a ‘good and robust’ build. The Vitara Brezza also scored only two stars when it came to child protection as the seats for the 18-month old dummy are forced to remain forward facing, which is considered to detract from the protection offered to infants. However, the Brezza still scored well for 3-5-year-old occupants. The NCAP also noted that the Isofix anchorages were also incorrect according to Global NCAP testing protocols.
These are the detailed results based on the Global NCAP tests
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ADULT OCCUPANT:
The protection offered to the driver and passenger head and neck was good. Driver’s chest showed marginal protection while the passenger’s chest showed good protection. Driver’s knees showed marginal protection and passenger’s knees marginal and good protection as they could impact with dangerous structures behind the dashboard supported by the Tranfascia tube. The bodyshell was rated as stable and it was capable of withstanding further loadings. The car offers standard sBR for driver and standard ABS.
CHILD OCCUPANT
The child seat for the 3-year-old was installed FWF with ISOFIX and top tether and was able to prevent excessive forward movement
during the impact with good protection for the head while marginal protection to the chest. The 18-month-old CRs was installed
with ISOFIX and top tether forward facing which explains the loss of head points, it showed poor protection for the head and limited
protection for the chest. The recommended CRSs did not show incompatibility. The vehicle offers standard ISOFIX and top tether
anchorages in the 2 outboard rear seats and does not offer 3 point belts in all seating positions.
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Watch the GNCAP Vitara Brezza Crash Test:
ALSO READ: Tata Nexon also scored 4-Stars in GNCAP ratings
When the Vitara Brezza was launched in 2016, Maruti had proudly said that this car would be the one of nine Marutis that would comply to all of India’s latest crash test norms, out of the total of 15 models that the manufacturer has on sale. The new norms for full-frontal impact, off-set-frontal impact and side impact have been in force on all cars launched in India since October 1, 2017, will extend to all cars on sale in the country from October 1, 2019. The good thing is the focus of manufacturers on safety has bred a new generation of safer Indian cars with even the Nexon (one of the Brezza’s chief rivals) also scoring 4 stars in its Global NCAP rating recently.