Honda Amaze scores two stars GNCAP rating | Autocar Professional

Global NCAP has crash tested the Honda Amaze sedan under its new protocol, and awarded it a 2-star adult occupant and a 0-star child occupant protection rating. The Honda Amaze is among the last few cars to be tested under Global NCAP’s Safer Cars for India campaign as India moves to its own Bharat NCAP safety assessment programme.

Honda Amaze Global NCAP score explained

The Amaze had secured a 4-star adult and 1-star child occupant protection rating back in 2019. But, this was the made-in-India model that was sold in the South African market.

As per Global NCAP’s report, the dummies of both children showed head contact in the frontal impact test. The three-year-old child dummy suffered from high loadings in the chest and neck, while the one and a half year old dummy was at risk of being ejected. Furthermore, the lack of three point seat belts in all seating positions, the lack of a passenger airbag disconnection switch as well as just one provision for CRS installation resulted in a 0-star rating for child occupant protection.

Meanwhile, the adult occupant protection score was low due to the lack of optional side head protection, absence of ESC as standard as well as a seat belt reminder for the driver only.

Interestingly, Honda had recently updated its entire line-up in India with additional safety features, a move that saw the Amaze gain seat belt reminders for all five seats. Had the newer model been tested, the safety rating could have been slightly different.

Honda’s response to the crash test

Honda Cars India, in an official statement, said that as per the test result under the new protocols, the car is “of a 5-star level” and the lower rating is “mainly due to requirement of certain equipment like Electronic Stability Control and Side Curtain Airbags”. The statement continued: “We are dedicated to continuously work to enhance our vehicles on all parameters of safety and improve them further at model change timing.”

That last line is particularly important as the current-gen version was introduced in 2018 and is set to be replaced by an all-new model later this year. This makes it an odd pick for a crash test, although a similar thing happened back in 2022 when the Honda Jazz and Gen4 Honda City were tested just as they were about to be discontinued. Instead, we feel Global NCAP should have picked the Elevate SUV, launched in 2023, which would be more relevant consumer advice.

Safety features that are offered on the Amaze include ABS with EBD, dual frontal airbags, rear parking sensors, rear multi-view camera, a high-speed alert and ISOFIX child seat anchorages. The sedan is currently priced between Rs 7.93 lakh-9.86 lakh (ex-showroom) and goes up against the Hyundai Aura and Tata Tigor.