Suzuki slams ‘one-star Ertiga’ rating as ‘invalid’ and ‘not relevant’

Suzuki Auto South Africa has hit back at Global NCAP’s one-star rating of the Ertiga as part of its #SaferCarsforAfrica campaign, describing the final result as “invalid” and “not relevant” to the local market.

NCAP findings

On Wednesday, the EuroNCAP sanctioned body slapped the Ertiga with not only a single-star but also criticised its structure for being “borderline unstable”, the lack of side airbags, only lap belts for the rear seatbelts and faulty seatbelt pre-tensioners.

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Despite describing infant protection as “poor” and reporting that the footwell had been damaged, leading to the pedals moving, head and neck protection for driver and passenger was described as “good” and side protection for the head, pelvis and abdomen the same.

It doesn’t make sense

In a statement on Friday, Suzuki General Manager for Sales and Marketing, Henno Havenga, said the testing procedure references a 2019-spec Ertiga and not 2024 as evident by the OD2119MER1 vehicle identification number on the numberplate.

According to Havenga, the same number featured on the Indian-spec Ertiga tested five years ago as part of the #SaferCarsforIndia campaign based on crash test video evidence, and that Global NCAP had “perhaps tried inadvertently to create the impression that all tests were conducted recently and with the same model”.

“The most recent report is not relevant to the South African market as it uses inaccurate and incomparable information for the front and side-impact tests. This nullifies the results and makes the entire report invalid,” Havenga said.

Factors not taken into consideration

He added that the several perimeters for the test result not being relevant are as follows:

• Safety upgrades were made to the Ertiga post-2019 and the model tested, as per the identification number, conformed to Indian-market specifications and not South Africa;
• Discrepancy between the side impact rating of being judged to be better than the Kia Pegas and Renault Triber, yet given the lowest overall score;
• A change in testing procedures seemingly not taken into consideration based on the Ertiga having received three stars in 2019;
• Crash test equipment and even the crash test dummies possibly not adhere to the latest specifications;
• The fact that material published by Global NCAP is listed as those of the Renault Triber with the Ertiga pictured next to it as the “Maruti Suzuki Ertiga”
• Differences in the child restraint system which Suzuki says, “support the assumption that the dummies used in the two tests were different and the data collected from them incomparable”

Suzuki’s statement also states that manufacturers were allowed in previous years to see the findings by Global NCAP and the Automobile Association of South Africa (AASA) before it went to press, thus allowing them to make the necessary changes.

“This year, it seems that there has been a breakdown of communication since #SaferCarsforAfrica does not have any record of communication between AASA, Global NCAP and Suzuki prior to the publication of the results,” Suzuki said.

It went further by saying that the Ertiga, tested in 2024, with the identification number MD4923SER1, received “good and adequate” protection in the respective side-impact tests.

“Suzuki has never shied away from criticism. Rather, it has used feedback in previous reports to improve the safety of its vehicles,” Havenga continued.

“In the interest of upholding the credibility of the crash tests and the AA’s association in this programme, we believe that it is in their best interest to remain accurate, transparent and clear in their tests and reports to manufacturers and the customers they serve”.

Matter has been raised

He added that the release of the findings prompted Suzuki Auto South Africa to raise the matter with Suzuki Japan in Hamamatsu and Maruti Suzuki in India for clarification, saying, “We call on the AASA to follow due process and ensure that the information they share is relevant to the South African market and factually correct”.

For the time being, neither AASA nor Global NCAP has contested the findings.

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