Fabia only 4 star rating in EuroNCAP!!!

[VAG newbie]

I am in the process of convincing my parents in getting a Fabia as they are looking at trading up their old Mitsubishi Colt. As the Fabia has a price premium over the Japanese small cars, I was gonna use the excuse that Euro cars are safer, and it's worth the extra money for safer cars.

But surprisingly that's not true! Both EuroNCAP and ANCAP has given Fabia a 4 star rating. (I don't know how did ANCAP has the result for Fabia, but it's there on their website!) Consider the cheaper Japanese competitors such as Honda Jazz, Mazda 2 and Suzuki Swift all achieved a 5 star rating with ANCAP this year. It makes me wonder how did Fabia only achieve a 4 star rating? Does any one know? Was it like the Octavia which only had 2 airbags when tested? Would current Fabia achieve a 5 star if tested again when it arrives here?

If Fabia really has only 4 star rating, I think it will be very hard to gain much significant sales. Consider these Japanese competitors are much cheaper, better equipt, more reliable (even though Skoda is good, Honda and Mazda often beat Skoda in reliability survey), will run on 91RON, higher resale, and even safer. It will be interesting. Hmm...

[Jake02]

The ANCAP test would be the Euro NCAP test from when it came out (2006? 2007?) and like the Octavia it was the base model that was tested. I'd say that it would be safer now, particularly the Aus-spec version (with all the airbags and ESP as standard equipment). The other thing is that anything is safer than a Colt really (with its rear middle lap-sash only belt and all), so a Fabia is a win win!

But that's just passive safety and unfortunately that's how most new car buyers judge safety as. Euro cars typically drive better than their competitors and a Fabia would have a much better chance of avoiding a crash than a Jazz for example (the torque is available everywhere unlike the Honda V-TEC system and the Fabia had ESP developed with the car, the Jazz only had it introduced last year)! As I said on the other post, a Fabia has a much nicer interior than the Japs and has more space.

[woofy]

I don't know why Skoda didn't get ANCAP to test the Octavias and the Fabias here, but the EuroNCAP tests were versions without all the airbags we have here, so the Octavia as far as I know is still rated 4 stars here because of the missing curtain airbags in the euroNCAP test. You would think by now someone would have tested it again.

[ausspace87]

I think people also forget how the NCAP ratings system works. It's all based on points. If the vehicle has a seatbelt reminder light it gets a point, if it also has an audio warning it gets another point, if the passenger seat has a warning light it gets a point and so on... So in other words, if a manufacturer makes a vehicle that performs perfectly in the actual crash test, but doesn't come with all the warning stickers and lights and warning sounds and automatic unlocking etc. it's impossible for it to get 5 stars. You need to actually read the test report from NCAP to see how the car actually performed. From memory the child occupant test hurt the Fabia's overall score due to it having no warning label about a rearward facing child seat in the front seat and lack of labels showing the isofix points in the rear seats...

[aware]

Whilst you're on the money there ausspace87, how many 'normal' buyers who don't read spec sheets, don't read reviews or actually examine ANCAP stats will see a 4 star rating and walk away from it?

When you see ads plastered everywhere about cars with 5 star rating, and a person who isn't too interested in cars sees that it's only got a 4 star rating - that's a lost sale.

[K1W1]

If the $17,500 Suzuki Swift I purchased last weekend can have a 5 star rating then Skoda just aren't in the game if they are introducing 2012 models new into the country that only have 4 stars. Any potential buyer who mentions to another dealer they are looking at a Fabia will immediately get the "Oh, they are only a 4 star safety rating aren't they?" thrown at them possibly in front of their family. That will make the purchase decision really hard to justify to those whom you are supposed to be concerned about.

[VAG newbie]

If the $17,500 Suzuki Swift I purchased last weekend can have a 5 star rating then Skoda just aren't in the game if they are introducing 2012 models new into the country that only have 4 stars. Any potential buyer who mentions to another dealer they are looking at a Fabia will immediately get the "Oh, they are only a 4 star safety rating aren't they?" thrown at them possibly in front of their family. That will make the purchase decision really hard to justify to those whom you are supposed to be concerned about.

Fully agree! All the small cars on the market now have 5 star ANCAP aging. That includes Jazz, Mazda 2, even the Hyundais! (Hyundai even claim that they will not import any car with less than 5 star rating, therefore they won't import the i10) I doubt any potential buyer will fork out $4-5000 extra for a car with "less" safety rating! As I said, I find it very hard to convince my parents into it. Even though I know Aus spec will score 5 stars, most people will just read the spec! They are gonna think I'm trying to murder my parents!

C'mon, Skoda! Just supply a couple of cars for ANCAP to smash, and change that star rating to 5!!

[K1W1]

(Hyundai even claim that they will not import any car with less than 5 star rating, therefore they won't import the i10)

The Getz is 5 Star? That surprises me.
I must say that I was blown away by the quality and features of the i20 in comparison to other similar vehicles. It's far from the impression I had of Hyundais based on looking at older models. You get a heck of a lot of car for the money especially when you consider that it has a 5 year warranty.

[VAG newbie]

The Getz is 5 Star? That surprises me.
I must say that I was blown away by the quality and features of the i20 in comparison to other similar vehicles. It's far from the impression I had of Hyundais based on looking at older models. You get a heck of a lot of car for the money especially when you consider that it has a 5 year warranty.

I thought Getz will be discontinued. All the Getz they have are run-out stocks.

Hyundai's quality did improve, but the drive/ride is still horrible. We had an i20 for rental car last year, my wife got car sick even just going around in the car park.

[Jake02]

The thing is, the Roomster got a 5-star NCAP rating and it has the standard 6 airbags (which the Fabia gets here) and it's also practically the same car in terms of airbag positioning (apart from the curtains) so I'm pretty sure the Fabia would be a 5-star car.

[bobski]

I was going to disagree and say that 4 stars compared to 5 doesn't really matter to most buyers, but then realised that the safety perception is pretty important for small cars. This segment will have a good many buyers downsizing or buying for their kids. In both of those situations, people will take note of the star ratings. Not to mention that salespeople will definitely say "oh, you are considering a Fabia. Did you know its only 4 stars. Yes, this car drives like a pile of crap and is a snoozefest, but it has 5 stars! That is a whole extra star!".

So, yeah, crash some Skoda! (if they can get stock )

[aware]

The thing is, the Roomster got a 5-star NCAP rating and it has the standard 6 airbags (which the Fabia gets here) and it's also practically the same car in terms of airbag positioning (apart from the curtains) so I'm pretty sure the Fabia would be a 5-star car.

Doesn't matter to the average punter - they wouldn't undertake that kind of research. Even if we think it is a 5 star car, people will see that it's got 4 and walk away.

Look at the ANCAP website - only 2 of the 4 Skoda's tested have a 5 star safety rating - if people look at that alone and don't read anything else, it's not a good start. After reading the report, the Fabia really needs to be tested again when released here - particularly as they mention that the Australian specs may differ from what they tested previously.

[Corey_R]

Has anyone actually decided to look at the Euro NCAP Page for the 2007 Fabia crash test?

It clearly states that the car was equipped with the Front seatbelt pretensioners, Front seatbelt load limiters, Driver frontal airbag, Front passenger frontal airbag, Side body airbags, Side head airbags. The only airbag it doesn't have is the Driver knee airbag.

There is also this comment:

Front impact
The passenger compartment remained stable during the impact but structures in the dashboard presented a risk of injury to the knees and femurs of the driver and passenger.

You can also see the break-down of the scoring.
This is definitely a 4 star car on the pre-2009 tests, and that's WITH the 6 air bags.
It's quite possible that on the current tests, or soon to be released 2012 crash test scheme, that the Fabia is a 3 star car.


As for ANCAP, I generally don't care about their testing unless it's for a car that Euro NCAP haven't tested. For one, much of their database is from the old EuroNCAP tests anyway, but two, their test requirements and methodologies lag behind Europe, and even the American NTHSA.

[woofy]

I haven't looked at the Fabia one, but when I was researching before buying the RS OCty, the test for it was missing some airbags they then later came with. I don't think they have done any new tests actually but the existing one was the series I version that we never even had here (pre 06). You would think its about due for a new one, but maybe they are doing that with the all new model.

[Jake02]

Doesn't matter to the average punter - they wouldn't undertake that kind of research. Even if we think it is a 5 star car, people will see that it's got 4 and walk away.

Look at the ANCAP website - only 2 of the 4 Skoda's tested have a 5 star safety rating - if people look at that alone and don't read anything else, it's not a good start. After reading the report, the Fabia really needs to be tested again when released here - particularly as they mention that the Australian specs may differ from what they tested previously.

My point wasn't that linters will see the difference between Fabia and Roomster, it was that the Roomster got 5 stars and that if they tested the Fabia with the same airbags it would get 5 stars too.