Five years ago, Indian car manufacturers were panned for failing crash tests miserably. Today, manufacturers such as Tata and Mahindra are ahead of global players in India when it comes to car safety.

In fact, Tata Motors has the most car models with the top safety rating. The company’s new premium hatchback, Altroz, has secured the highest safety rating — 5 stars — from the UK-based Global NCAP, a non-profit safety and testing organisation.

This is Tata Motors’ second model after its SUV Nexon (2018) to secure a 5-star rating.

Mahindra & Mahindra’s XUV 300 has a 5-star rating for safety and it is the first vehicle from the Mahindra stable to secure such a high rating.

None of the MNC car manufacturers’ models that are sold in India has so far secured a 5-star rating for safety from Global NCAP.

‘Impressive progress’

“India has demonstrated impressive progress in vehicle safety,” said David Ward, President & CEO of Global NCAP.

Companies such as Tata and Mahindra competing to get 5-star ratings shows that Indian companies have the capability to build cars with world-class levels of safety, he added.

The wake-up call for safety came in 2014 when Global NCAP came out with the results of its crash tests, conducted in partnership with the Institute of Road Traffic Education (IRTE). The results revealed that many of the models tested had weak body structures. Moreover, the absence of airbags made them unsafe for passengers.

Better regulations

This resulted in increased consumer awareness and demand for safer vehicles.

It also led to the government launching new safety regulations that are on par with global benchmarks for safety.

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