The Nissan Magnite facelift has joined the reasonably long list of cars and SUVs to be awarded a full five stars in the Global New Car Assessment Programme (GNCAP) crash tests. On July 24, Global NCAP published results of the facelifted Magnite's crash tests, revealing that Nissan had voluntarily submitted the SUV for fresh testing. It must be noted that the Magnite – equipped with two airbags – had previously received four stars from Global NCAP back in February 2022, but that was under the safety watchdog's old, and less stringent, testing protocol.
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In 2025, Global NCAP re-tested the Magnite with two airbags, and gave it a two-star rating, with the car scoring 24.49 points out of 34 for adult occupant protection and 18.39 points out of 49 for child occupant protection. Nissan voluntarily submitted the Magnite facelift – equipped with six airbags as standard, along with electronic stability control (ESC) – and this unit secured a four-star rating for adult occupant protection as well as child occupant protection.
In a statement, Global NCAP said Nissan was ‘not satisfied’ with this result, and the Japanese carmaker chose to submit a ‘further improved’ Magnite, for a second voluntary test. It is this improved version that secured five stars for adult occupant protection, though surprisingly, it lost ground on child occupant protection, managing only a three-star rating. A query emailed to Nissan India inquiring about the nature of the improvement made to the Magnite remains unanswered at the time of publishing. We will update this story with the response from the company.
The re-tested, improved Magnite scored 32.31 points out of 34 for adult occupant protection, a considerable improvement on the 26.51 points racked up by the facelifted Magnite tested initially. While Nissan is yet to comment on what exactly was changed on the second test unit, a side-by-side look at the test results for both examples sheds some light on where the differences lie.
In the frontal offset deformable barrier test, the first Magnite tested (left) showed ‘weak’ protection for the driver's chest, and the report goes on to mention the driver’s and passenger’s knees showed ‘marginal’ protection as they could ‘impact dangerous structures behind the fascia’.
In the same test, the second, improved Magnite was deemed to offer ‘good' protection for the driver’s chest, as well as the front occupants' knees. It's worth noting that the body shell of the Magnite was rated stable and capable of withstanding further loadings in both instances. Both units were also deemed to offer good protection in the side impact as well as side pole impact tests.
The reports also make clear why the improved Magnite fared comparatively poorly for child occupant protection. The improved Magnite scored 33.64 points out of 49, compared to the first Magnite facelift's 36 points out of 49, with the former losing ground in the frontal impact test.
Global NCAP's analysis says the child seat for the 3-year-old test dummy – installed rearward facing using ISOFIX anchorages and a support leg – was ‘not able to prevent head contact with the interior of the car during the frontal impact’.
The child seat for the 18-month-old test dummy – installed rearward facing using the ISOFIX anchorages and a support leg – was able to prevent head exposure in the frontal impact test. The reason it lost points, as per Global NCAP, is because protection for the dummy's chest was deemed to be ‘slightly below’ what is considered ‘good’ under the test protocol.
Prices for the Nissan Magnite facelift range from Rs 6.14 lakh to Rs 11.76 lakh (all prices, ex-showroom).
