Watch: Safety of SA’s bestselling cars compared
Global NCAP and AA South Africa have published the results of its first independent crash test assessment of some of South Africa’s most popular compact and small cars.
The crash worthiness results of the five cars tested show a wide range of safety performance, from four to zero stars for adult protection, with the lowest ratings resulting in a high probability of life-threatening injury in a road crash.
The models tested included South Africa’s best-selling car, the VW Polo Vivo, and the following hatchbacks: Datsun Go+, Toyota Etios, Renault Sandero, and the Chery QQ3.
Combined sales of these five cars account for around 65% of all the new cars sold in South Africa last year.
Global NCAP chose the entry-level version of each model fitted with the Datsun not fitted with airbags as standard. The results highlighted differences in the structural integrity of the vehicles tested.
It also awarded a separate child safety rating to each car in order to highlight the different levels of protection vehicles provide to passengers on the rear seats, and how compatible the car is with the child seats recommended by the manufacturer, as well as the protection provided in the crash test.
Results
In the assessments, some of the child seats recommended by manufacturers were found to be incompatible with their vehicle’s belt system.
In the Polo Vivo, Chery QQ3 and Datsun GO+ there was no three-point seatbelt on the rear centre seats and no way to safely install a child seat or transport a small child safely in that seating position.
Only the Toyota Etios and Renault Sandero offer Standard ISOFIX anchorages for the outboard rear positions and three-point seatbelt for all passengers facilitating minimum conditions to safely install a child seat.
Toyota Etios
The Etios achieved a four-star rating for adult occupant protection in the frontal crash test at 64km/h.
The vehicle structure was rated as stable, offering good general adult occupant protection. The car included seatbelts with pre-tensioners for both front passengers.
Using the child seats recommended by Toyota, the Etios achieved a three-star rating for child occupant protection.
Renault Sandero
The Sandero achieved a three-star rating for adult occupant protection in the frontal crash test at 64km/h.
The vehicle structure was rated as stable, offering acceptable general adult occupant protection. The car did not include seatbelt pre-tensioners.
Using the child seats recommended by Renault, the Sandero achieved a four-star rating for child occupant protection.
Volkswagen Polo Vivo
The Polo Vivo achieved a three-star rating for adult occupant protection in the frontal crash test at 64km/h.
The vehicle structure was rated as stable, offering acceptable adult occupant protection. The car did not include seatbelt pre-tensioners.
Using the child seats recommended by VW, the Polo Vivo achieved a three-star rating for child protection.
Datsun GO+
The GO+ achieved a one-star rating for its poor adult occupant protection mainly in the Driver’s chest in the frontal crash test at 64km/h.
The vehicle structure was rated as unstable, steering wheel movement, even though a steering wheel airbag was fitted, recorded high compression to the chest of the driver dummy.
There was no airbag for the passenger. The Datsun GO+ achieved a two-star rating for child occupant protection using the child seats.
Chery QQ3
The QQ3 achieved a zero star rating for its poor adult occupant protection mainly in driver’s head and chest.
The vehicle structure was rated as unstable as showed collapsed in some relevant areas during the impact. Injury impacts recorded in the dummy head and chest, in particular, led to this result. There were no airbags for the adult passengers.
The manufacturer did not recommend specific child seats which explain most of the points loss for child occupant protection.
The QQ3 was given a zero star rating for child occupant protection, considering the poor vehicle readiness to safely accommodate the child seats.
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