If you were planning on adding a new 2015 Datsun to your car collection, you may want to check this crash test video first.

 

http://tinyurl.com/lmbn2jc

 

Dennis

I think they have finally taken crumple zone too far. This is wrong on so many levels. The least of which is using Datsun's good name on a p.o.s.

I'm not defending Nissan on this but its clear from the commentary they're not alone in this:

 

"The Datsun Go did earn two stars for rear-seat child occupant protection out of five possible stars, which is also a substandard rating compared to a number of other cars in the Indian market, though it is by no means alone in scoring zero stars for adult protection ratings. Global NCAP recently tested five of India's best-known cars inlcuding the Ford Figo, Hyundai i10, Volkswagen Polo, Maruti Alto 800, and Tata Nano. All of them earned zero stars following the tests, with Volkswagen making amends by deciding to fit the Indian-market Polo with airbags, which subsequently received four out of a possible five stars in a crash test.".

 

This is a situation of mfrs. seeking the lowest common denominator based upon existing government regulations.  Is it wrong?   That depends on where you are coming from: executive (bonus), shareholder (profits), regulator (safety), bureaucrat (public opinion/graft/...), buying public (cheap transportation), ...and so on.  There's no perfect answer, we can only be confident that none of these vehicles will make it into countries with more stringent requirements.

 

 

Nissan designed this thing just as it is for the purpose and market in which it was sold.  They are not trying to slip a POS killer car past anybody.  When the car costs $10, you get what you get. We and the article publisher can argue all day long about what minimum global safety standards should be, but in that market, to get a car that locals can afford, this is the outcome.  I hate it too, but its the reality.

Maybe just sit in the back seat?  

Forty-five years ago I traveled around in India in a Hindustan Ambassador (1956 British Morris Oxford clone) and the traffic scared the snot out of me.  Can't imagine I was any safer in that Ambassador than I would be today in the new Datsun.  But, at least I'd have seatbelts in the Datsun.  I think the crash in the video was at 40 mph.  No idea about what would be left if one hit a moving Big Rig at 60 mph.

 

I clearly see why cars in the US cost more and keep me safer. 

Dennis

Tangentially related, but if you haven't seen some of the crash test videos from the 50s, 60s, and 70s, there's a few of them on Youtube and they're fascinating.  It's nothing short of a miracle that anyone who was in one of those death traps managed to live to tell about it.

If you were planning on adding a new 2015 Datsun to your car collection, you may want to check this crash test video first.

 

http://tinyurl.com/lmbn2jc

 

Dennis

.......... The only 2015 Nissan product to be considered a future collector's car would be the GTR . The Datsun GO has no collector appeal .FWIW.