The fourth-gen Suzuki Swift hatchback has been crash-tested by Euro NCAP with the car awarded a three-star rating. The Europe-spec car received mixed scores, securing scores of 67 per cent and 65 per cent for adult and child occupant protection respectively, while the safety assist systems secured a 62 per cent score. However, it is worth noting that the European car differs from the Maruti Suzuki Swift in some aspects such as packing in Advanced Driver Assistance Systems, which is not offered in India.
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Occupant protection was a mixed bag with ratings ranging from good to poor.
In the frontal off-set impact test the Swift offered good protection to the head of adult occupants while chest protection was rated weak for the driver and marginal for the front passenger. Protection to the legs also ranged between adequate and marginal. Euro NCAP noted that ‘some areas of the dashboard were thought to pose a risk to the knees and femurs of occupants of different sizes and to those sitting in different positions and Suzuki did not demonstrate that the same level of protection would be provided to such occupants.’
The safety body also noted that the Swift’s passenger compartment remained stable in the case of a frontal offset collision.
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Moving to the full-width rigid barrier test, the new Swift offered marginal protection to the chest of the driver and rear passenger based on compression reading of the dummy. Protection to the head remained good. In the side barrier test, protection to the chest was adequate while in the side pole impact test protection was good. Head protection was rated as good in both tests.
New Swift was tested for side impact and pole impact.
The Swift however dropped points for far-side excursion of the occupant during a lateral impact and occupant interaction during an impact. Both were rated as poor. Euro NCAP noted that ‘Suzuki did not provide evidence to demonstrate the degree to which the Swift would control excursion’ and that there were no countermeasures preventing occupants from clashing heads in the event of a side impact. Whiplash protection in the event of a rear-end collision was rated as good for both front and rear-seat passengers.
Euro NCAP also pointed out that while Swift did come with an eCall system to alert emergency services in case of a collision, the system did not fully meet the crash test agency’s requirements. The agency also noted that the Swift lacked any system to prevent a secondary collision.
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Frontal and side impact testing showed poor protection to child occupants in some areas.
Euro NCAP noted that the new Suzuki Swift offered poor protection to the neck of the 10-year-old dummy in the event of a frontal offset impact. Chest and head protection meanwhile were marginal and adequate respectively. Similarly, neck protection was weak for the 6-year-old occupant while head and chest protection was marginal and good respectively. In case of a side impact, the Swift offered poor chest protection to the 10-year-old occupant and neck protection was also rated as weak.
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Euro NCAP noted that the bodyshell of the Swift offered largely between marginal and good levels of protection to pedestrians or cyclists in case of a collision with only the stiff A-pillars showing poor results. It also noted that the autonomous emergency braking system responded adequately to pedestrians and cyclists though the car lacked any protection measures from ‘dooring’ a passing cyclist. Dooring is the term for opening the car’s door into the path of a cyclist approaching from behind.
Swift scored the highest results in vulnerable road user safety with 76 per cent.
On the ADAS and other safety features, Euro NCAP noted that while the Swift offered seat belt reminders for all occupants though the rear seats lacked an occupant detection system - a requisite for scoring points hence scoring a zero. The lane keep assist and lane departure warning functions performed well though the driver detection system dropped points for only detecting driver fatigue. The vehicle-to-vehicle autonomous emergency braking also performed adequately.
