The Chevrolet New Onix Plus, the best-selling car in Latin America, went from zero stars to five stars in two years. The recently launched model now offers top level protection for adult and child occupants as well as pedestrians, and also offers electronic stability control (ESC), six airbags and seat belt reminders (SBR) as standard safety equipment.
Those are the highlights of new crash tests results released on Thursday by the New Car Assessment Program for Latin America and the Caribbean (Latin NCAP), that showed that General Motors substantially improved the region’s most popular model.
"We really bashed them over the years,” David Ward, president and chief executive of the Global New Car Assessment Program (Global NCAP), a nonprofit based in London, told Forbes, noting that his group has been critical in the past of General Motors for selling zero star cars in Latin America. “But the good news is, they’ve actually done it,” he said. With the Onix, which is manufactured in Brazil, GM set a new benchmark for car safety in the region.
“This icon of U.S. manufacturing has produced a car in an emerging market that meets pedestrian protection” standards set by the United Nations, he said.
But unfortunately, Mr. Ward noted, the pedestrian protection feature, which makes bumpers softer and modifies the front ends of vehicles to reduce the severity of a pedestrian impact, is not mandatory in the United States; only six of the eight United Nations priority vehicle safety standards are required by law.
Mr. Ward’s group serves as an umbrella organization for new-car assessment programs around the world,including Latin NCAP. Its tests are based on standards set by the United Nations and offer consumers information about the safety levels for models sold in their markets. Cars are rated from zero to five stars for the crash and collision-avoidance protection they offer.
The group advocates for the voluntary commitment from automakers worldwide to adopt the minimum UN vehicle safety standards ahead of legislation.
In contrast to the progress for the New Onix Plus, the newly released crash test results also included ratings for a popular compact SUV that is available in several countries in the region that scored zero stars for adult occupant protection and one star for child occupant protection.
The Chery Tiggo 3, manufactured in China, failed to offer minimum protection in a frontal crash; it offers double frontal airbags as standard, but the results of the frontal impact test indicated high probability of life threatening injuries during the crash to the driver’s chest. And the structure of the Tiggo 3 was rated as unstable.
The weak results indicated that some manufacturers or importers in the region do not put a premium on safety, the group said, emphasizing that consumers in every country deserve vehicles that meet basic safety requirements and the hope that GM will continue to improve its entire fleet in the region and that other manufacturers will follow suit.
“This is a remarkable safety performance for the Chevrolet New Onix Plus. It is a milestone for Latin America and provides clear evidence of how Latin NCAP´s tests are building market for safer cars,” Alejandro Furas, secretary general of Latin NCAP, said in a statement. “Latin NCAP is determined to drive zero stars cars out of Latin American market.”
Mr. Ward added: “There are still some very badly performing cars on the market which Latin American consumers should avoid at all costs.”
Read the full crash test reports here and here. Watch crash test videos here and here.
For more information about Latin NCAP and the new test results summary, click here and here.
