>>1Five Indian car models flunk independent crash tests
A Tata Nano car seen during an independent crash test at an undisclosed location in India. The model and four other entry-level vehicles - the Suzuki-Maruti Alto 800, Ford Figo, Hyundai i10 and Volkswagen Polo - failed the test.
New Delhi - The Tata Nano, billed as the world's cheapest car, and several other top-selling small models from India have failed their first independent crash tests, a global safety group said.
The five entry-level vehicles - including the country's best-selling small car, the Suzuki-Maruti Alto 800, as well as the Ford Figo, the Hyundai i10 and the Volkswagen Polo - scored no stars out of five for protection.
The tests, carried out by the New Car Assessment Programme (NCAP), saw the basic models, all without airbags, driven at 64kmh into a block simulating a head-on collision.
The NCAP tested only the basic models of the cars in question and it said the Figo and Polo would provide much better protection if fitted with airbags. But the Nano, the i10 and the Alto had "inadequate" structures that meant that even airbags would "not be effective in reducing the risk of serious injury".
Global NCAP secretary-general David Ward called them "gratuitously dangerous" and blamed lax regulations that created an incentive to make cheap but structurally unsound vehicles.
"The changes of surviving a crash are extremely low. It's either death or very serious injury," he said.
NCAP also tested the cars in a crash simulation according to United Nations standards - at the slightly slower speed of 56kmh - and none passed.
"It's worrying to see levels of safety that are 20 years behind the five-star standards now common in Europe and North America," said Global NCAP chairman Max Mosley.
Tata said its cars passed "all Indian safety regulations, including the frontal barrier crash test at 48kmh", while Maruti Suzuki had no immediate reaction.
Hyundai said its "vehicles are designed and built to meet all the prescribed safety standards set by Indian regulatory authorities".
Ford said safety was "one of the highest priorities in the design of our vehicles".
Volkswagen said it had withdrawn its Polo model without airbags and it stressed that the with-airbags version was certified as the safest in the segment.
AFP