If seeing that a vehicle has a zero-star safety rating isn’t enough to frighten a person out of his or her mind, seeing said vehicle in a wreck probably is. Five cars designed for India—which has minimal safety requirements for vehicles—just received that number in crash testing, and videos from the test show why.
The tests come from the London-based Global New Car Assessment Program, an organization aiming to “support the development of new consumer crash test programmes in emerging markets.” The group tested seven cars made for the Indian market and handed five of them—the Renault Kwid, Maruti Suzuki Celerio, Maruti Suzuki Eeco, Mahindra Scorpio, and Hyundai Eon, all with no airbags—a rating of zero out of five stars for adult safety. Child safety scored only slightly better.
The Renault Kwid continues to grow in popularity in the country—as of March, the Times of India reported the Kwid as fifth on the list of best-selling passenger cars with 9,743 vehicles sold that month. Since its launch on Sept. 24, 2015, the Kwid’s total sales as of March sat at 41,205 units.
The numbers show just how widespread sales are despite the lack of safety features, and Global NCAP secretary general David Ward told the Wall Street Journal that results from the crash tests reflect “a lack of regulation and also consumer’s lack of awareness” in India. From the Wall Street Journal:
“Global NCAP strongly believes that no manufacturer anywhere in the world should be developing new models that are so clearly sub-standard,” he said. “Car makers must ensure that their new models pass the UN’s minimum crash test regulations, and support use of an airbag.”
India is among a handful of emerging automobile markets including Thailand, Mexico and Indonesia which don’t have sufficient safety regulations in place, said Mr. Ward.
As can be assumed from these vehicles, safety standards in India do not require airbags at the time being. There are a few changes ahead, as the Wall Street Journal reports that the Indian government will at least begin to require front- and side-impact crash tests on new cars in late 2017. But for now, the country still has popular cars such as the Kwid that follow lackluster safety regulations.
Here are testing videos from four of the five vehicles that received zero stars:
This story was originally published on May 21, 2016