India-made Volkswagen Vento scores four stars in ASEAN NCAP tests

The Volkswagen Vento has scored four stars in the reputed ASEAN NCAP tests. The NCAP or New Car Assessment Program is an automotive safety rating program which evaluates a car’s safety by crashing it in a predefined controlled environment. Conducted in Malaysia, the crash test had the car sourced from Volkswagen Malaysia, which imports the Vento as a CBU from India.

Called Polo Sedan in Malaysia, the Vento sold over there is very similar to the one sold in India, but for some additional features like the side airbags in addition to the dual front airbags. The car assessed was a 1.6-litre variant with a six-speed automatic gearbox.

The Vento scored four stars out of five in both adult occupant and child occupant safety. ASEAN NCAP said that the reason for not giving the Vento a perfect five star rating was due to the lack of Electronic Stability Control (ESC), though the top-end variant sold in India does get this option.

The EU requires all new cars to pass the safety tests before they are sold in the European markets. United States has its own NCAP, which was the first of its kind, Australia and New Zealand have ANCAP, Latin America has the Latin NCAP, China has C-NCAP among others. Though safety is not given much thought in India while buying a car, the NCAP ratings greatly influence the customers’ car buying decisions in several global markets. The lack of the concern towards safety has lead to several manufacturers bringing their cars to India sans many safety features, which are provided in their other markets.