Tata Motors is launching the facelifted Harrier and Safari SUVs with a bang, as both have today been awarded a five-star rating in the latest round of Global NCAP crash tests. Not only did the duo get a full five-star rating, but also did it while notching up the highest score registered yet by an India-made vehicle in the Global NCAP tests. The Tata SUVs are among the last vehicles to be tested by the safety watchdog, as it winds up its #SaferCarsForIndia initiative with the impending rollout of India's own Bharat NCAP test programme.
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With an adult occupant score of 33.05 points out of 34 points, the Harrier and Safari have bettered the previous highest score for an India-made SUV, which belonged to the Mahindra Scorpio N (29.28 points). The duo has also bettered the Volkswagen Virtus and Skoda Slavia's adult occupant protection score of 29.71 points. As is necessitated by the updated, more stringent test protocol, the Harrier and Safari facelift were also subjected to a side pole impact test.
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The Harrier and Safari also received a five-star rating for child occupant protection, scoring 45 points out of a total 49.
Tata Motors has made significant structural reinforcements to the facelifted Harrier and Safari, adding a greater proportion of high-strength steel, especially in the load paths of both vehicle's structures, which has played a crucial role in the excellent scores for the two SUVs.
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"We have added several high-strength steel and hot-stamped parts, we have added six airbags as standard, and there are several things that were changed for the side and pole impact tests, to essentially make the passenger cell stronger so that the occupants are not at risk when there is a collision", said Mohan Savarkar, Chief Product Officer of Tata Motors' passenger vehicle division, during an interaction with carandbike.
Savarkar added that the company has engineered the two SUVs to meet safety requirements beyond what is outlined by Global NCAP, with a keen focus on active safety systems and pedestrian protection. He also confirmed that Tata will be sending the two SUVs for Bharat NCAP tests in the time to come, which is something carandbike had reported about earlier in October.
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As standard, the Harrier facelift is equipped with six airbags, ISOFIX child seat mounts, electronic stability programme (ESP), hill hold control, traction control, rollover mitigation, corner stability control, after-impact braking, panic brake alert and three-point seatbelts with a reminder system for all seats. The Safari facelift mirrors the Harrier's standard safety equipment, but also gets disc brakes at all four wheels. Higher variants of both SUVs come with a seventh airbag, as well as advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS).
Also Read: Tata Harrier Facelift vs Original: What’s Different?
With these results, five out of the seven combustion engine Tata passenger vehicles on sale today – barring the Tiago hatchback and Tigor subcompact sedan – have a five-star crash test rating from Global NCAP. No other mass carmaker operating in India today has as many five-star-rated models in its portfolio, and Savarkar admitted the news of crash test results has had a clear, positive rub-off on sales of all Tata models.
