Global NCAP: New Nexon Gets Refreshed Rating
- Gobar NCRAP
- Feb 16, 2024
- 5 min read
In August of 2023, Tata announced a major facelift for the popular Nexon compact SUV, with refreshed front and rear-end styling, new interiors and many new features, including a host of active and passive safety equipment.
Compared to its predecessor, the new Nexon features an improved crash protection suite across the range, adding three-point safety belts to allow every occupant to restrain themselves properly, head-protecting side curtain airbags, seat-mounted side airbags to protect front occupants' torsos and compatibility with i-Size child restraints.
The new Nexon also features some new active safety features that encourage the driver and passengers to follow safe practices, like reminders for all rear safety belts and optionally, the following: a tyre pressure monitor and a camera that shows the driver what's in the blind spot of their passenger-side rearview mirror.
The new Nexon has already had among the highest levels of standard and optional safety equipment in its class for a while (click here to see comparison), whose performance has now been validated through independent crash testing by consumer charity Global NCAP.
In a release on their website yesterday, Global NCAP announced five-star ratings for adult and child occupant protection for the internal combustion version of the new Nexon based on in-lab crash and safety testing conducted at Tata's expense.
Tests were carried out with belted dummies in the front seats representing the average European adult male, and 1.5 and 3 year-old child dummies placed rearward-facing in the rear seats in Tata's recommended child restraint: Joie's i-Size compatible "i-Spin Safe".
Adult Occupant Protection
A Nexon unit carrying belted adult male dummies in the front seats and infants in the aforementioned Joie child restraints was put through the well-known offset deformable barrier test, where 40% of the width of the car struck a deformable aluminium honeycomb at 64km/h -- an attempt to recreate the effects of a head-on crash between two cars of similar weight and dimensions, both travelling at 50km/h and with around half their widths overlapping.
According to the technical report published by Global NCAP, readings from both front-seat adult dummies in the test indicated a very low risk of serious injury to most body regions, although deflection of their ribs and forces transmitted up the driver's tibias indicated a limited risk of fracture. The airbags were deemed to have deployed correctly and head contact was judged stable. Intrusion of the fascia, steering wheel and pedals was very well-controlled in the test and additionally, inspection of the Nexon's frontal load paths after the test revealed no signs of failure indicating the intrusion recorded could be expected to be reproducible. In addition to retractor pretensioners for both front safety belts, the Nexon is fitted with a special lap pretensioner for the driver's belt, and additional sled testing submitted by Tata showed it would be effective at protecting the knees of occupants of different sizes and seating positions in such a crash. In general, both child dummies were also well-protected in their restraints.
As a standard requirement of the organisation's latest assessment protocols (in force since July 2022), the Nexon was also put through a side impact test where a 950kg cart with a flat-faced aluminium honeycomb barrier -- representing a small car -- struck the front passenger's door at 50km/h. The struck car was carrying a EuroSID side impact dummy (representing the average European adult male) in the front passenger seat and child dummies of both aforementioned ages.
Dummy readings from the test indicated a very low risk of serious injury to the dummy's head, abdomen and pelvis, and lateral compression of his ribs indicated only a limited probability of serious rib fracture. The side seat and curtain airbags were deemed to have deployed properly. Both child dummies in their restraints were awarded maximum points for protection.
Tata chose to submit the Nexon to Global NCAP for an optional side pole test, where a Nexon carrying the aforementioned side impact dummy was driven perpendicularly on a sled moving at 29km/h into a pole representing a tree, post or other fixed roadside object.
The curtain airbags deployed correctly and prevented hard contact of the dummy's head with the intruding pole, so the Nexon passed the pole test. According to the visualised chart published by Global NCAP as additional information, numbers from the dummy indicated a low risk of pubic injury, but lateral compression of his ribs indicated a moderate probability of fracture and forces in his abdomen showed a limited risk of injury. Children were absent in this test.
The Nexon's standard-fit electronic stability control system was put through the UN's Regulation 13-H test and passed its minimum approval requirements. The Nexon also passed UN127 minimum requirements for the protection of an adult and child pedestrian's head, and a lower leg impact test. After adding scores from all of the above tests -- plus a couple of additional points for the Nexon's front and rear safety belt reminders -- and considering the optional tests the Nexon passed, Global NCAP awarded the Nexon a five-star rating for adult occupant protection.
Child Occupant Protection
Along with judging protection of child dummies placed rearward-facing in Tata's recommended Joie i-Spin Safe restraints in the dynamic tests mentioned above, Global NCAP attempted to safely install a number of popular child restraints in the Nexon's rear outboard seats, where it gained maximum points thanks in part to its i-Size compatibility (not available on pre-facelift Nexon). Global NCAP also conducted a general review of the Nexon's child safety features and warning labels, and lauded -- for example -- the three-point safety belt in the rear centre seat and the provision of a switch to disable the front passenger's airbag in case the need to install a rearward-facing child restraint on the front passenger's seat should arise. They deemed the warning on the passenger's sun visor to adequately warn of the risk of danger or serious injury associated with placing a rearward-facing child restraint on a seat with an active frontal airbag.
Adding up the points, Global NCAP also awarded the Nexon a five-star rating for child occupant protection.
Parents who own or are looking to buy the new Nexon must be aware:
Joie, whose restraints Tata selected for the test, does not distribute child restraints in India, but the Joie i-Spin Safe has been made an official accessory for the new Nexon at Tata dealerships. In any consumer crash test, results from the crash tests are invalid if child restraints other than those recommended by the vehicle manufacturer are used.
Although the i-Spin Safe is a reversible restraint, Global NCAP's dynamic testing was carried out with the seat positioned rearward-facing for both ages of child
i-Size, the latest regulation for child restraints in Europe, sets minimum age/height limits until which rearward-facing travel is required but endorses it much longer, even as long as 4 years or 105cm
Parents are advised to follow vehicle-specific recommendations from Tata, in the car's latest owner's manual, for installing the i-Spin Safe in the Nexon
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