Maruti Suzuki Ertiga And Renault Triber Perform Abysmally In NCAP Tests

The Ertiga and Triber are two of the best selling MPVs in India. People buy MPVs for their practicality and affordable pricing. In the older NCAP tests these vehicles performed decently and were considered safe by those standards. However, the tests have gotten stricter and the cars have not fared well in them this time around.

Performance In Older Tests

The Ertiga was tested back in 2021 by GNCAP where it received 3 stars in both child and adult occupancy tests. The test car was equipped with dual front airbags, but you get more airbags in higher variants. It scored 9.25 out of 17 in adult occupant tests, while scoring 25.16 out of a possible 49 in child passenger tests. The numbers were not atrocious back then, but still not good enough by modern standards.

The Triber was also tested in 2021 by GNCAP and its performance was slightly better than that of the Ertiga, where it earned 4 stars in adult occupant tests and 3 stars in child occupancy tests. Again like the Ertiga, the Triber tested had only dual front airbags. Both the car’s body-shells were deemed unstable to withstand further loads.

Performance In Latest Tests

These tests were conducted recently in Africa by Global NCAP. The protocols have gotten much stricter which means poorer ratings for the older vehicles. The Ertiga received a shocking mere 1 star for the adult occupancy test and 2 stars on child occupancy tests. Like the older tests, both test vehicles had only dual front airbags. Upon frontal offset impact tests, the driver and passenger safety remained constant for the Ertiga.

While the Triber was given 2 stars in both child and adult occupancy tests, it scored 22.29 out of 34 points in adult and 19.99 out of 49 in child occupancy tests. The Triber’s performance in frontal offset impact tests was relatively poor in the latest tests compared to the older norms and the car tested was not equipped with ESC; it comes as standard equipment for India.

Can These Vehicles Be Considered Safe?

These scores are considered tragic by modern standards. The bodyshells were described as unstable in the modern tests. Notably, both MPVs come with 4 airbags on their higher variants and if safety is your priority, you would be better off with these versions of the cars.

The tests have gotten tighter, but the cars were identical to the older ones and neither of these manufacturers have conducted changes to the structure. To attain better scores, Maruti Suzuki and Renault need to make drastic modifications to the cars and offer more safety features as part of standard kit.