A decade ago it was almost unthinkable that small super mini cars would be the safest cars on the road
. But, new technology and research has enabled small cars to be as safe if not safer than some of the larger cars out there.
The new Suzuki Swift is one of those super minis that has been awarded with Euro NCAPs 5 star safety rating. The Euro NCAP assessment is a very thorough test of a cars safety features as well as accident preventative measures. The system looks at occupant protection in frontal, side, pole and rear impacts as well as child protection, pedestrian protection and the availability of driver aids.
The Euro NCAP scheme uses a weighted score, combining many aspects of a car's safety performance: adult (50%), child (20%) and pedestrian (20%) protection assessment results with the availability of safety assistance devices (10%).
The new Suzuki Swift was awarded a score of 94% for adult occupant protection, 82% for child; 62% for pedestrian and 71% for the inclusion of driver aids with an overall total of 83%. Euro NCAP has a requirement of an overall 75% for any vehicle to be awarded full marks, which means the Swift has comfortably exceeded the required amount.
The Swift has been able to achieve such good ratings because Suzuki has developed a new, stronger and lighter impact absorbing body shell designed to improve occupant protection as well as minimising injuries to pedestrians.
The little Swift includes seven airbags as standard across the model range which includes driver knee airbag as well as whiplash mitigating front seats. Active safety equipment in the Suzuki Swift includes ESP (Electronic Stability Programme) which is standard across the range. For a brochure or test drive pop into a Suzuki dealer in London.