South Africa-spec Suzuki S-Presso Claimed To Be Safer Than Indian Counterpart

• Unlike its Indian counterpart, the South Africa-spec S-Presso gets dual front airbags and front seatbelt pretensioners as standard on all variants.

• Top variants of the Indian S-Presso do get the above safety features, but Global NCAP only tests base models.

• South Africa-spec S-Presso is yet to undergo Global NCAP crash tests, but don’t expect a massive difference.

The Maruti Suzuki S-Presso has been a major topic of discussion in the auto industry over the past couple of weeks and not for good reasons. The S-Presso has scored a big fat ZERO in the Global NCAP (New Car Assessment Programme) crash tests as part of its #SaferCarsForIndia campaign. Rubbing salt to the wounds, its South African counterpart, which is made in India, is claimed to be the safer model of the two.

Concerns over the India-spec S-Presso’s recent crash test result were doing the rounds on social media among Indian as well as South African customers. That’s when Suzuki South Africa’s official handle claimed that the model tested in India was a lower-spec variant featuring only one airbag and no seatbelt pretensioners. On the other hand, the South African S-Presso gets dual front airbags and front seatbelt pretensioners standard on all variants. 

The top VXI+ variant of the India-spec S-Presso does get dual front airbags and front seatbelt pretensioners, but Global NCAP always tests the variant with a standard set of safety features. In this case, the base trim of the S-Presso. 

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Another important point to note is that the South African-spec S-Presso is yet to undergo a Global NCAP crash test. However, we don’t think there will be a significant difference considering its body shell has been rated unstable and it doesn’t feature ISOFIX anchorages or three-point seatbelts in all the seating positions. As such, it’s likely to garner a 1-star or 2-star safety rating at best.  

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