Saar: The little hatch was assessed in three areas – safety tech, adult occupant protection and child occupant protection.

ASEAN NCAP, the New Car Assessment Programme designed specifically to test cars on sale in the South East Asian countries, has now crash tested the Renault Kwid. It received an overall star rating of zero, based on how it performed in three major assessments – Adult Occupant Protection (AOP), Child Occupant Protection (COP) and Safety Assist Technologies (SAT). The Kwid scored 10.12 points in the first category, 14.56 points in the second one and nothing at all in the last category. Do the math and the total score adds up to 24.68 points.

The AOP category gets its final score from three assessments – offset frontal, side impact and head protection technology. This category contributes to 50 per cent of the overall rating. The Kwid garnered all its points from this category when it was put through the offset frontal impact test. That means the Kwid offers zero safety in a side impact crash test and in head protection technology.

Both COP and SAT categories contribute to 25 per cent of the overall rating each. The model tested had only one airbag for the driver. Additionally, there were no ISOFIX anchorages for child booster seats and hence the dummies representing child occupants had to be restrained using the seatbelts only. While the COP category is quite self-explanatory, the SAT category focuses on the availability and effective working of features such as seatbelt reminder, blind spot technology and effective braking and avoidance, which includes features like ABS, EBD and BA.

Latin NCAP Crash Test

Commenting on the crash test result of the Renault Kwid, David Ward, secretary-general, Global NCAP, said:

“It’s very disturbing to see such a poor result for the Kwid. Renault have shown that they can make a much safer version in Latin America, so why not in South East Asia too? Different regions and double standards from Renault is deeply disappointing!”

Last year, the Renault Kwid was put through a similar assessment procedure by the Latin NCAP. That body only crash-tests cars which are on sale in the Latin American countries. There, the Renault Kwid was equipped with four airbags and received 3 stars as an overall rating.