In
a milestone moment for vehicle safety, the India manufactured Mahindra XUV300
becomes Global NCAP’s first five star car in Africa. The XUV300 had achieved a
five star rating for the Indian market in 2020. Global NCAP’s Indian and
African programmes share the same assessment protocols and following a
production compliance review, the rating has been confirmed for the model’s
roll out in Africa.
Post
the test it was confirmed that the protection offered to the driver and passenger’s
head and neck was good. Driver’s chest showed adequate protection while
passenger’s chest received good protection. The body shell was rated as stable
and it was capable of withstanding further loadings. Footwell area was rated as
stable. Side impact Regulation UN95: the car met technical requirements of
regulation UN95 as standard. The vehicle has standard SBR for driver and
passenger. The car has standard ABS.
As
for child occupant safety, the child seat for the 3 year old was able to
prevent excessive forward movement during the impact offering fair protection
to the chest. The 18 month old CRS was installed with ISOFIX and support leg
and protection offered to the 1.5 year old dummy was good. The vehicle offers
standard ISOFIX and top tether anchorages in the 2 outboard rear seats and does
not offer 3 point belts in all seating positions. The car offers passenger
airbag disconnection switch in case a rear facing CRS needs to be installed in
the front passenger seat.
It
may be recalled that post its spectacular achievement in early 2020 in the
Global Ncap crash test, the Mahindra XUV300 also achieved Global NCAP’s first
ever ‘Safer Choice’ Award, an accolade only available to automakers achieving
the highest levels of safety performance for cars sold in India.
Mahindra
had submitted the XUV300 for further Global NCAP conformity tests, with the
model meeting both pedestrian protection and Electronic Stability Control (ESC)
‘Safer Choice’ Award requirements. To qualify for the coveted award a car model
must meet all of the following requirements:
First,
the model must achieve a 5-star score for Adult Occupant Protection in
accordance with the latest version of the Global NCAP New Market Test protocol.
Second,
the model must achieve at least a 4-star result in Child Occupant Protection in
accordance with latest version of the Global NCAP New Market Test protocol.
Third,
the model must offer Electronic Stability Control (ESC) and meet performance
requirements according to United Nations Regulations UN13H, UN140 or GTR8.
Where optional, ESC must be available on all the model variants, sold
separately without any ‘bundling’ with other features, and as from two years
onwards must be a standard fit to at least 20% of the sales volume in the
country.
Fourth,
the model must meet Pedestrian Protection requirements according to United
Nations Regulations UN127 or GTR9 which must be validated on market units at a
Global NCAP designated testing laboratory.