Volkswagen Taigun and Skoda Kushaq are the first cars in the Indian car market to achieve a 5-star rating for both adult and child occupants in the latest round of Global NCAP crash tests under the #SaferCarsForIndia initiative. Moreover, both the compact SUVs were tested under the new and more demanding crash test requirements for India, scoring 29.64 points out of a possible 34.00 in adult occupancy, and 42 points out of a possible 49 for child safety. It should be noted that both these SUVs share the same MQB-A0-IN platform and are also the first cars under Skoda Auto Volkswagen India Private Limited’s (SAVWIPL) India 2.0 strategy to be locally manufactured from its plant in Aurangabad.
"The Volkswagen Group has always focused on providing the highest level of safety across its model range," Piyush Arora, Managing Director and CEO of Skoda Auto Volkswagen India commented, on the results. "This is an important milestone and a gratifying accomplishment for us, as both our INDIA 2.0 SUV models have achieved the pinnacle of global safety standards". "I am confident that this recognition will help continue our brands' growth momentum", he added.
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Christian Cahn von Seelen, Executive Director of Sales and Marketing, Skoda Auto Volkswagen India said, "The design, dimensions, and materials used in the cabin may differ among our car models, but one constant is our rigorous pursuit of keeping the driver and occupants safe in our cars. I am proud and humbled that a prestigious organisation like Global NCAP has acknowledged our efforts, awarding the highest safety ratings for the Skoda Kushaq and Volkswagen Taigun, especially the never attained level of child safety."
Alejandro Furas, Secretary General, Global NCAP said, “We welcome and congratulate Skoda and Volkswagen’s initiative to meet Global NCAP’s new five-star requirements for the Kushaq and Taigun through voluntary testing. “We urge all car makers to aspire to and achieve this level of crash test performance going forward, maintaining the momentum of safety improvements we have seen steadily develop through our programme since we began our Indian testing in 2014.”
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carandbike also reached out to Ashish Gupta, Brand Director of Volkswagen Passenger Cars India for a comment on the achievement of the Volkswagen Taigun. “Today, it is a matter of great pride for us to announce that our German-engineered SUVW Taigun, equipped with 40+ safety features has secured 5 stars rating in the Global NCAP both for adult and child occupants," he said. "This reflects our commitment to offer the highest safety standards to our customers in India and also the hard work of our entire team whose engineering expertise and efforts have made Taigun, India’s Safest SUVW, he added.
Ashish Gupta, Brand Director of Volkswagen Passenger Cars India, along with the Volkswagen Taigun.
The Global NCAP’s updated crash test protocols assess frontal and side impact protection for all tested models, Electronic Stability Control (ESC), pedestrian protection and side impact pole protection assessments are also required for vehicles scoring the highest star ratings. For the front offset barrier test, Global NCAP tests the car at a 64 kmph speed limit, while the side barrier test is conducted at 50 kmph. The pole side impact test is done at 29 kmph, whereas the pedestrian child headform to bonnet test is assessed at 40 kmph.
David Ward, President, Towards Zero Foundation said, “Following the introduction of Global NCAP’s more demanding protocol enhancements in July, it is satisfying to already see these five-star crash ratings for VW and Skoda. Most domestic and international automakers understand that Indian consumers rightly expect high safety standards as a minimum requirement. We look forward to this trend continuing when Bharat NCAP gets underway next year.”
Both the Skoda Kushaq and the Volkswagen Taigun were assessed in their most basic safety specification- 2 airbags, ABS & EBD and ESC fitted as standard. The models demonstrated a stable structure in the frontal impact, adequate to good protection for adult occupants and marginal to good protection in the side impact scenarios. Child occupants received full protection during the front and side impact, and that’s also partly because of a three-point seat belt and ISOFIX anchorages for all three seats at the rear offered as a standard fitment.
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Global NCAP observed that in a front impact collision, the driver’s chest showed adequate protection and the passenger’s chest showed good protection. The driver’s and passenger’s knees showed good protection as well, while the driver’s tibias showed marginal and adequate protection and the passenger’s tibias showed good protection. Even the footwell area was rated as stable, whereas the bodyshell was rated as stable, capable of withstanding further loadings.
For side impact, it was observed that the head, abdomen, and pelvis protection was good while chest protection was marginal. Curtain airbags offered on both versions met the fitment requirements and a pole impact test was performed in a version with side head protection airbags showing good protection to the head and pelvis, adequate protection to the abdomen and marginal protection to the chest.
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Moving to child safety, the seats for both the 18-month-old and 3-year-old child were installed rearward facing using the i-Size anchorages and a support leg and it was able to prevent head exposure during the frontal impact offering full protection. It even offered full side impact protection from a side impact.
