Autocar - First for car news and reviews

Suzuki says it has updated the safety features on its Alto supermini after gaining a disappointing three Euro NCAP stars out of five in latest tests.

The new car was marked down for “adult occupant protection, child protection and safety assistance performance”.

Suzuki has responded to the low score for safety assistance performance in the NCAP test by agreeing to fit ESP as an option to one of the three lower model grades.

A spokesman said: “In this segment three stars is a...Read the full article

This is part of the problem I have with the new EuroNCAP regs.

The Alto is fundamentally a safe vehicle and as Suzuki have stated, it is about average in its class.  The only reason it scores so low is that its "electronic" safety, such as ESP is lacking.  This is a budget car for heavens sake, it is built to a price and all these things add cost.

Don't get me wrong, a vehicle should be safe regardless of cost, but passive safety on this vehicle is good.

All the three star rating, as a headline figure, will do is deter buyers, and may be buyers that should be trading out of older less safe vehicles.

Does this mean that the Nissan Pixo has the same Euro NCAP score as it is basiclly the same car?