The made-in-India Hyundai Verna has achieved a poor zero star safety rating from the Latin NCAP. Being sold as Hyundai Accent in Latin American countries, the tested unit was equipped with driver's airbag as standard safety feature while there was no Electronic Stability Control (ESC) on offer. It scored 9.23 percent in Adult Occupant protection, 12.68 percent in Child Occupant protection, 53.11 percent in Pedestrian and Vulnerable Road User protection and 6.98 percent for Safety Assist. The sedan was tested in frontal impact, side impact, whiplash and pedestrian protection.
As far as frontal impact is concerned, Hyundai Verna was dismal as it showed a red chest for the adult passenger and leading to zero points in this test. Though, it was marginally good in side impact protection for adult protection. The side pole impact test scored zero points as it could not be performed due to the lack of standard side head protection airbags. Whiplash protection was marginal. The bodyshell and footwell area were rated as stable. Child Occupant Protection performance was poor because Hyundai declined to select the Child Restraint Systems (CRS) for the tests. Pedestrian protection was over all marginal to weak in the head, good for the upper leg and weak to adequate for the lower leg.
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Hyundai Verna doesn't feature Automatic Emergency Braking (AEB) for Vulnerable Road Users as an attempt to compensate the pedestrian protection described before in order to avoid or mitigate the impact. Safety Assist showed only SBR points. The version with two frontal airbags would have obtained the same star rating because of the non recommendation of CRS, the lack of standard head side airbags and the lack of the standard ESC. Latin NCAP proposed Hyundai to volunteer to test a better equipped version to show consumers the benefits of more safety equipment but the manufacturer declined. Recently, Hyundai Tucson also met the same fate as it was awarded a zero star rating by the Latin NCAP.
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