Suzuki New Zealand indicates discussion with Japan about potential to improve best seller after poor crash test performance.

HOPE the latest generation of the Suzuki Swift can receive improvements to elevate its crash test worthiness has been expressed by the distributor.

National crash test auditor, ANCAP, today announced the latest generation of the small hatchback which released in June deserves a desultory one star rating out of a possible five, the worst crash test rating for the nameplate and the lowest for any current Suzuki sold here.

The previous Swift, which still represents as a NZ-new car in its Swift Sport guise, achieved five stars, but under a more lenient test conducted in 2017. That score ‘retires’ at end of this month, so from thereon the car will be unrated.

As for the latest ANCAP credential? Suzuki New Zealand’s chief executive says all he can do is ask the maker if improvements can be delivered, in hope the car can in time be re-tested and do better.

Gary Collins says the rating has been the subject of “considerable conversation” with Japan this week, his operation and Australia’s having been alerted ahead of the public announcement by the Australasian New Car Assessment Programme.

Whatever happens next is up to Suzuki Japan.

“That's something that our parent company has to make some decisions on.

“Obviously that would be our preference … to have some updates.

“All we can say is that we're providing feedback to our parent company and they're reviewing that content.

“We’ve been in discussion … giving them feedback on this rating for the benefit of future model planning.”

Collins says in the meantime his Whanganui-based business must brace itself for the determination effecting sales potential for a car that historically has been a high-volume success, at times topping annual tallies. 2023 was one of the quieter years, with it placing as the country’s fifth best seller, with 3922 registered.

The greatest potential for reduced interest from now on, Collins acknowledges, could well come from the fleet and rental sectors, that cumulatively presently account for one third of Swift annual volume.

Some fleets, notably every Government department, mandates selection restricts to five star product.

ANCAP’s score arrives in wake of the latest model achieving a middling three star rating from the independent safety assessor’s European counterpart, NCAP.

NCAP and ANCAP are sister organisations, and their testing protocols are identical, so sometimes the European scores are adopted for New Zealand and Australia.

In this instance they were not, as ANCAP identified the safety specification of the car as it sold in Australasia “differed to those sold in Europe”, as advised by the maker.

“Earlier this year ANCAP was informed of physical differences between locally-supplied Swift models and those supplied in Europe so we conducted a range of additional crash tests on local vehicles and found some areas of concern,” a statement from ANCAP said today.

“In comparison to the three-star rating achieved by Swift vehicles sold in Europe, vehicles sold in Australia and New Zealand performed differently when crash tested,” ANCAP chief executive Carla Hoorweg said.

This score comes under test protocols that are tougher than those the previous generations of Swift faced, with much better outcomes.

A score of 47 percent was achieved for Adult Occupant Protection and 59 percent for Child Occupant Protection. Swift’s collision avoidance performance was also limited, with a score of 54 percent recorded in the Safety Assist assessment pillar.

Performance variation with the European model was seen in the frontal offset and full-width crash tests, with higher chest loads and leg injury risk (excessive pedal movement) to the driver in the frontal offset test, and a significantly greater rear passenger chest compression measurement recorded in the full-with test which exceeded allowable limits.

Protection of the chest – a critical body region – was therefore assessed as Poor and the score capped, resulting in zero points awarded for this test.

“The design of some of the structural elements and restraints in locally-sold Swift vehicles appear to lack robustness leading to variation in crash performance,” Hoorweg said.

Poor scores also recorded for the head and chest of the child dummies in the head-on and side-impact crash test scenarios. The Child Occupant Protection result of 59 percent is one of the lowest scores seen to date, ANCAP says.

The tester says that while ANCAP and Euro NCAP test and rating criteria were aligned in 2018 to promote consistency across markets, scrutiny of locally available models remains essential to identify specification differences.

“This one-star result serves as an important reminder for prospective buyers to check the ANCAP safety rating of the vehicle they’re looking to buy,” Hoorweg said.

Collins said Suzuki New Zealand’s policy was always to deliver a product in its best possible configuration.

“We always bring in the highest specified model that we can and as far as equipment levels it (the latest Swift) is far more comprehensively equipped than what it has been in the past.”

Dual frontal, side chest-protecting and side head-protecting airbags are standard. A centre airbag which provides added protection to front seat occupants in side impact crashes is not available.

Autonomous emergency braking (Car-to-Car, Vulnerable Road User and Junction Assist) as well as a lane support system with lane keep assist (LKA), lane departure warning (LDW) and emergency lane keeping (ELK), and a speed assist system (SAS) are standard. AEB Backover is not available.

Collins said the NZ market cars were aligned with the Japanese market specification, which meant “some differences from other markets specifications.”

“It makes sense for us to be aligned with that market. Swift has a long history of providing a strong value proposition for our customers around a whole range of attributes including performance and comfort and emissions and fuel efficiency as well as safety.”

Swift is among 10 finalists for consideration for New Zealand Car of the Year, the national award meted by the New Zealand Motoring Writers’ Guild, which lists safety among 10 core values a vehicle must perform well in.

The finalists were announced in November.