India's Toyota Etios achieves Global NCAP 4 star rating in crash test

2 February 2016

As part of the #SaferCarsForIndia campaign, Global NCAP has been performing independent crash tests on some of India's most popular small cars since 2014. Earlier tests have shown a high-risk of life threatening injuries in road crashes in several models tested in a frontal impact at 64km/h.

In 2014 VW decided to offer the Polo in India with double airbags as standard, moving the protection level of this model from a high-risk of life threatening injuries at zero stars, to four (out of five) stars for adult occupant protection.

In late 2015 Toyota decided to equip all of its Etios models with 2 airbags and 2 pretensioners and asked Global NCAP to test the car and provide a star rating for its crashworthiness.

The recent test of the Toyota Etios showed a good level of adult occupant protection for the frontal passenger; achieving a rating of four stars and two stars in child occupant protection.

David Ward, Global NCAP Secretary General said, "Global NCAP congratulates Toyota on this voluntary initiative which has resulted in significant safety improvements for the Etios model sold in India. Global NCAP encourages all car manufacturers to follow the safety example set by Toyota and VW to improve occupant protection for all their models sold in India.

"It is impressive to see a major manufacturer achieve a four star result and we look forward to the first five star car in India."