The Suzuki Baleno, a small five-door hatchback, has scored an astonishing score of 0 out of 5 stars on the Latin NCAP, which are the crash tests all new cars must be subjected to before they can be put on the market.
The hatchback, which is built in India along with some other cars that scored zeroes on the test, like Suzuki’s Eeco and Celerio, but those cars are not available with airbags, while the Baleno is.
Although the Baleno comes with dual-airbags, it still scored extremely badly on most tests. It received a score of just 20% for adult protection, and if they have kids, they likely won’t for long, as the children protection rating was even lower, at 17%. It was also noted that side impact protection was particularly poor, leaving the passengers’ chests unprotected.
But the bad news doesn’t stop there. The whiplash protection score was abysmal due to the car’s lack of rear impact pre-requisites. Another interesting fact: Suzuki refused to test the car’s optional equipment for safety.
However, most of these problems are only on the Latin model. In Europe, the car gets more airbags, six to be precise. The car also gets a much-improved rating of three stars.
Comments