Hyundai Venue scores four star ANCAP safety rating

Team OD Published: December 20, 2019, 11:42 AM IST

The Hyundai Venue, which was recently voted the Indian Car of the Year for 2020, has scored four stars in the ANCAP safety ratings. This applies to the Australian and New Zealand markets, where the sub-four-metre SUV was launched in September 2019. The Venue sold there differs from the Indian version, it gets a 1.6-litre petrol and comes with a suite of safety and assistance systems. It also gets front, side and curtain airbags as standard.

The Australian Venue scored a 91 per cent score in the adult occupant protection criteria and 81 per cent for child occupants. The agency noted that in both, the frontal-offset and the frontal full-width tests, there was adequate protection to the driver's chest. This improved to a Good rating for all other body parts. The rear passenger's neck was adequately protetced, but there was only marginal protection of the chest. In the side impact test and oblique pole test, protection was generally good. For 10-year-old children in a frontal offset test, there was poor protection to the neck. This improved for six-year-olds.

For pedestrians, the Venue's bonnet was a safe bet in case of head impact. The upright A-pillar area was not as competent at preventing injuries scoring only a poor rating. Other body parts were marginal to well-protected. These factors got the Venue a 62 per cent score, but the active emergency braking function performed well. In the efficacy of the other safety assistance systems, the Venue again scored a 62 per cent score. This covered the autonomous emergency braking (AEB), lane keep assist and emergency lane-keeping systems, all of which showed adequate effectiveness in keeping occupants safe, with good collision avoidance.

The Indian-spec Venue hasn't been tested yet, but given that it is the same car structurally, some of these findings could be applicable to the Indian car. It must be noted though that the India-spec Venue only gets front, side and curtain airbags on the top SX(O) versions, other make do with two front airbags.

The Hyundai Venue is the best-selling sub-four-metre SUV in India. In overall SUV sales, it is eclipsed by the Kia Seltos. The Venue SUV gets two petrol and one diesel engine which are mated to two manual and one dual-clutch automatic transmission in various permutations. One of the petrols, is the new Kappa T-GDI 1.0-litre turbo. This three-cylinder motor makes 120PS and 172Nm. This will be paired with two gearboxes, a new seven-speed dual-clutch automatic and a six-speed manual. The other petrol motor, for lower-spec cars, is the 1.2-litre petrol with 83PS and 116Nm, as seen on various Hyundai cars in India. The single diesel option is the 1.4-litre four-cylinder turbo diesel motor which puts out 90PS and 220Nm, paired with a six-speed manual. Dimensionally, the Hyundai venue is 3,995mm long, 1,770mm wide and 1,590mm tall. The wheelbase is 2,500mm. Top-spec cars get a 215/60 R16 wheels.