Moneyweb radio<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\nAs part of its campaign, the AA submits popular vehicles sold in South Africa to the Global New Car Assessment Programme (Global NCAP) for independent crash testing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The programme measures how well vehicles protect adult and child occupants in front and side-impact collisions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The AA has so far tested models including the Hyundai Grand i10, Toyota Corolla Cross, Chery Tiggo 7, Toyota Starlet, Kia Sonet and Haval Jolion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
These vehicles received between zero and two stars overall, with the association highlighting shortcomings such as the absence of standard side curtain airbags and weaker-than-desired structural protection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“The greatest concern here, and this is coming from the trends that are emerging from the vehicles that we’ve tested during the Safer Cars for Africa programme, is that these vehicles are equipped with too few airbags,” Ramagwede said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“In addition to that, there have been quite a few vehicles that have proven to have weaker-than-acceptable footwells. So in the event of a crash or an accident, the footwell can’t withstand sufficient loading to protect the feet.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The AA believes safety equipment should be treated as essential rather than as a premium feature. Ramagwede rejected suggestions that adding additional airbags would make affordable cars too expensive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“That argument argues that safety is a feature that should be bought as opposed to components like infotainment and sunroofs,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Our programme is designed to democratise safety and have that at the forefront of any vehicle, and allow for trappings like sunroofs and infotainment to be the determinant for higher pricing.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He added that while consumers ultimately choose which vehicles to buy, manufacturers and the government also have a responsibility to improve minimum safety standards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“Unfortunately, our regulations remained stuck in the 90s. Had they been updated to modern-day times, minimums like electronic stability control and at least four airbags would have been mandatory for all vehicles entering South Africa,” Ramagwede said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also criticised manufacturers for complying with outdated legal requirements instead of offering higher safety specifications that are already available in other markets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“The short answer to that is, for entry-level variants, yes, we are indeed being offered fewer passive safety features than buyers in Europe,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Looking at South Africa’s 20 best-selling vehicles in May 2026, nine entry-level models would fail the AA’s proposed minimum standard because they do not offer both ESC and six airbags as standard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
These are the VW Polo Vivo, Chery Tiggo 4, Hyundai Grand i10, Haval Jolion City, Toyota Corolla Cross, Isuzu D-Max Double Cab, Omoda C5, Kia Sonet and GWM P-Series Double Cab.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Asked whether such vehicles should effectively disappear from the local market, Ramagwede stopped short of calling for an outright ban but made the AA’s position clear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“It is pushing it a bit too far. However, if we had the authority, these vehicles would not be on South African roads,” he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The AA plans to continue lobbying the government to modernise vehicle safety regulations while also encouraging buyers to prioritise safety when choosing a new vehicle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“The low-hanging fruit from a consumer’s perspective is to demand the labelling of the vehicle safety rating. Once the consumer starts to purchase vehicles through the lens of safety, they’ll quickly realise what’s safe and what’s not safe.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n
South Africa’s top 20 best-selling cars, and which ones should be banned based on the AA’s standards: <\/p>\n\n\n\nModel<\/th> Minimum of 6 airbags<\/th> Electronic stability control<\/th> Pass \/ Banned<\/th><\/tr><\/thead> Toyota Hilux Double Cab<\/strong><\/td>Yes<\/td> Yes<\/td> Pass<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>VW Polo Vivo<\/strong><\/td>No<\/td> Yes<\/td> Banned<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>Ford Ranger Double Cab<\/strong><\/td>Yes<\/td> Yes<\/td> Pass<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>Chery Tiggo 4<\/strong><\/td>No<\/td> Yes<\/td> Banned<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>Hyundai Grand i10<\/strong><\/td>No<\/td> No<\/td> Banned<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>Suzuki Swift<\/strong><\/td>Yes<\/td> Yes<\/td> Pass<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>Haval Jolion<\/strong> City<\/strong><\/td>No<\/td> Yes<\/td> Banned<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>Toyota Corolla Cross<\/strong><\/td>No<\/td> Yes<\/td> Banned<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>Suzuki Fronx<\/strong><\/td>Yes<\/td> Yes<\/td> Pass<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>Jetour T2<\/strong><\/td>Yes<\/td> Yes<\/td> Pass<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>Isuzu D-Max Double Cab<\/strong><\/td>No<\/td> Yes<\/td> Banned<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>Toyota Starlet<\/strong><\/td>Yes<\/td> Yes<\/td> Pass<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>Toyota Starlet Cross<\/strong><\/td>Yes<\/td> Yes<\/td> Pass<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>Toyota Vitz<\/strong><\/td>Yes<\/td> Yes<\/td> Pass<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>Omoda C5<\/strong><\/td>No<\/td> Yes<\/td> Banned<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>Suzuki Ertiga<\/strong><\/td>Yes<\/td> Yes<\/td> Pass<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>VW Polo<\/strong><\/td>Yes<\/td> Yes<\/td> Pass<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>Kia Sonet<\/strong><\/td>No<\/td> Yes<\/td> Banned<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>GWM P-Series Double Cab<\/strong><\/td>No<\/td> Yes<\/td> Banned<\/strong><\/td><\/tr>Toyota Rumion<\/strong><\/td>Yes<\/td> Yes<\/td> Pass<\/strong><\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/div><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Automobile Association (AA) argues that South Africans should say goodbye to cars that do not meet a basic safety standard.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":865365,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11119],"tags":[25724,3328,853],"class_list":["post-865360","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-motoring","tag-safercarsforafrica","tag-automobile-association","tag-south-africa"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/865360","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/92"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=865360"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/865360\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":865366,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/865360\/revisions\/865366"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/865365"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=865360"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=865360"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/businesstech.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=865360"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}