It was last month when Mahindra launched the all-new Thar. It looks great, offers a range of powertrains and has peerless charm. Now though, there’s another reason to consider it – the new Thar has left the Global NCAP jury impressed. The compact 4×4 recorded a four-star safety rating for both adult and child occupants. That’s even better than what the Marazzo managed in 2018, achieving four stars for adults and only two stars for children. However, it isn’t as impressive as the XUV300, which is safest made-in- and made-for-India car with a five-star safety rating. Here’s the frontal crash test video of the new Thar:

Global NCAP put the Thar through a front crash-test at 64kmph. In terms of safety, the crash-test specimen had dual airbags, front seatbelt pretensioners, ISOFIX anchorages, four-channel ABS and seatbelt reminder. The crash-testing body also evaluated the new Mahindra Thar’s ESC (Electronic Stability Control). Here, check it out:

ESC isn’t available as standard on the Thar. “The car showed an unstable dynamic behaviour”, said Global NCAP. It has recommended a review and improvement of the safety feature installed. The Thar also went through a side-impact crash test, where a barrier rams into the car at 50kmph. That’s as per UN 95 regulations, and the Mahindra passed the test. Yes, we’ve got a video for that too:

On a scale of 17, the Thar recorded 12.52 points for adult safety. For child safety, the Thar scored 41.11 out of a possible 49. Now, as a reference point, the XUV300 managed 16.42 points in the first category, but only 37.44 in the second one. So, simple math says that the Thar outperformed the XUV300 in child safety. Here’s a snapshot of the crash test report:

As you can see, there are no weakly- or poorly-guarded sections on those dummy figures. Global NCAP said that the Thar’s bodyshell was stable and it was capable of withstanding further loadings. The footwell area, however, was rated unstable. For child safety, the ISOFIX anchorages helped push the score upward. Also, the recommended Child Restraint Systems did not show incompatibility. Will Thar’s safety score become an enabler for more bookings? Only time will tell.