Bharat NCAP: India's Favourite EVs Certified Five-Star Safe

images: www.bncap.in

Who says zero tailpipe emissions have to come at the cost of crash protection? Not Tata, evidently, as their facelifted Nexon.ev and hot new Punch.ev have been awarded five stars for adult and child occupant protection by newfound local consumer information programme Bharat NCAP.

Both electric models showed low or limited risks of serious injury to all assessed body regions of the belted adult male dummies in the front seats, in crash testing representing an off-centre frontal crash with another similar car, a side impact with a small car striking the driver's door, and the car laterally colliding with a tall, narrow object like a tree or pole targeted at the driver's head.

They also effectively protected dummies representing 18-month and 3-year-old children, when seated in Joie i-Spin Safe child restraints (an approved accessory for both cars) which were installed rearward facing in the cars' compatible outboard seats (both i-Size compatible) using their ISOFIX anchorages, and with the "Tri-Protect" flaps closed (as Tata recommend in their owners' manuals). The Nexon.ev and Punch.ev also offer a number of other safety features to transport children safely, like a three-point belt for all rear seats, and a switch to disconnect the front passenger's frontal airbag in the unlikely event that a rearward-facing child restraint would need to be installed there. Both cars could safely accomodate a number of different child restraint models.

Child restraints selected by Tata: Joie i-Spin Safe, rearward facing (ISOFIX/i-Size) with Tri-Protect flaps CLOSED.

Although some of these are not assessed by Bharat NCAP, both EVs also have a healthy amount of active safety features, like a standard-fit tyre pressure monitoring system, electronic stability control, and an optional blind spot camera.

However, they differ in the activation of the audio signal for their rear seatbelt reminders -- while the Nexon.ev does only when a fastened belt is undone, the Punch.ev does at the start of every trip, even if the rear seats are empty. This may be so annoying users may choose to keep the belts fastened and sit over them, which does nothing except make it more difficult for those who already remember to wear their belt, to do so. Please help improve Gobar NCRAP ratings by sparinga a minute if you drive a car with rear seatbelt reminders.

REAR SEATBELT REMINDER FORM

The Gobar NCRAP safety comparisons for compact and subcompact SUVs have been updated to include the ratings, but neither of the cars is marked up, because they do not have a neck restraint for the rear centre passenger required for 'Good' Occupant Protection status in 2024. Nevertheless, they continue to score the highest rating: 'Best Pick' with the optional blind spot camera and 'Recommended' without.

NEW CAR COMPARISONS -- GOBAR NCRAP