Disappointing: Maruti Suzuki Swift Scores 2 Stars In Latest Global NCAP Test!

Merely a dozen days after praising Maruti Suzuki for building the 4-star safe Vitara Brezza, the latest Global NCAP crash test scores for the Swift have resulted in a shocker.

The Maruti Suzuki Swift, the latest all-new car launched by the company in India, has scored a shocking 2-stars in both adult and child protection in the frontal crash test conducted by Global NCAP. This may be an improvement over the 2014 model which scored 0 stars in the same tests but is in no way more reassuring.

The Swift is offered with dual-airbags, child-restraint anchorage points, front seatbelt pretensioners and ABS as standard, much like the Vitara Brezza. It however scored lower than its crossover brethren thanks to weaker protection overall - including the alarming revelation of having an ‘unstable’ bodyshell.

The driver fared worse in the frontal impact, even though the crash dummy’s head was protected by the aforementioned airbag. The presence of ‘dangerous structures behind the dashboard supported by the Tranfascia tube (support structure for the dashboard and the equipment on it)’, and significant pedal displacement meant harsher impacts on the drivers’ knees and feet which were ultimately responsible for the low adult safety rating. The Swift did not do well in terms of child safety ratings as well, scoring 2 stars in spite of having dedicated ISOFIX child seat anchor points.

While this may reinforce the point raised by many that Maruti makes unsafe cars it is especially disheartening to see this result as the Swift is supposed to be the latest, and in turn, safest car among all the cars in Maruti’s stable. Maruti certainly does harp on about its safe Heartec platform, but the unstable structure warning in a test conducted at a sedate 64kmph crash test certainly puts question marks over those claims.

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Global NCAP has also noted that European and Japanese versions of the same car have fared better than the made-in-India Swift. The European version scored 3-stars for the standard variant and 4-stars for the safety pack equipped variant in the more rigorous Euro-NCAP tests. Meanwhile, the Japanese variant scored 5-stars in the JNCAP tests! These cars did much better in the respective tests thanks to additional safety features like side curtain airbags and electronic stability control (ESC) along with active autonomous safety features such as city-braking.

The latest test certainly brings the Swift into the limelight, but not in a good way. The tests have exposed the fact that the Swift is not a very safe car to be in, making this well-equipped, competitively priced and highly attractive package difficult to recommend. We await Maruti’s reaction to the crash test results and hope to see steps taken to improve the safety of the Swift and their lineup overall. We know that Maruti Suzuki can do it, the Vitara Brezza is proof of that fact.