Hyundai i20 Safety At EURONCAP Crash Test
A large family sedan and a pair of superminis were put through their Euro NCAP carsh tests recently, and not all of them did well.
Good safety ratings: the Skoda Superb was a 5-star performer, while the all-new Hyundai i20 received a 4-star safety rating.
Poor safety rating: the Fiat Panda Cross only manged a 3-star rating.
Hyundai i20 at EuroNCAP crash tests
The vehicle we are going to focus on here is the new Hyundai i20, but first let’s take a look at how the Euro NCAP rating system works:
The frontal impact test is conducted ar 64 km/h, with a toal of 40% of the car’s width striking the test barrier. As the name suggests, the full-width crash test sees the full front of the car take the impact, this time at 50 km/h. The same speed is used for the side impact crash test, but that is reduced to 32 km/h for the sideways pole test.
Safety of Hyundai i20
- Adult occupant safety
In the frontal offset test, the passenger compartment of the i20 stayed stable. Readings from the test dummy showed that the protection of the knees and femurs of both the driver and passenger was good. Hyundai also made it clear that passenegrs of all shapes and sizes would be offered the same level of protection, as would people sitting in different positions.
Adequate protection was offered by the restraint systems in the full-width rigid barrier test. That adequate protection was for the chest of the driver and the neck and chest of the rear passengers. Other body regions received good protection.
Good protection of all critical body regions was delivered in the side impact barrier test and the side pole test. That said, the rear edge of the curtain airbag became trapped in both tests, which meant it was unable to fully deploy.
This little issue led to Euro NCAP penalize the i20 in both of the tests. The bag did not fully deploy because it became trapped on a part of the interior trim. Hyundai have since launched a full investigation into why this is happening when the curtain airbags deploy.
- Kid’s safety
The 1 ½ year dummy was placed in a rearward-facing restraint for the frontal offset test. The results showed marginal protection for the head, and good protection for other body regions.
The 3 year dummy was in a forward-facing restraint, and had very little forward movement in the collision. An adequate result was the overall protection rating for that age group.
A pair of dummies were placed in protective shells in their restraints for the side impact test, helping reduce the likelihood of the head coming into contact with interior vehicle elements.
A rearward-facing restraint can be used in the front seat once the passenger airbag is disabled. The status of the airbag is clearly visible to the driver, which earned the i20 some points. Each of the restraints used in the test can be correctly installed and put in place in the car.
- Pedestrian safety
Maximum points were achieved in these tests, as the i10 provided good protection to the legs and pelvis. Most of the results for the bonnet fell on the good or adequate side for head protection. Results were slightly poorer with head contact on the stiff windscreen pillars.
