Here are the eight safest cars to drive in South Africa for under R200,000
Do you prioritise the safety in the vehicles you purchase? The ELVS Report should serve as a basis for your research.
The inclusion of some safety features on entry-level vehicles remains low in South Africa, although some positive developments in this regard have happened. This is according to the 2020 Automobile Association (AA) Entry-Level Vehicle Safety Report (ELVS) which assesses available safety features on entry-level vehicles in the country.
This year being the value of entry-level vehicles is R200 000. The 27 vehicles reviewed for the 2020 ELVS Report are assessed for safety features stated in written literature of the vehicles. The Report does not consider the structural integrity of the driver/passenger compartment.
In 2019, the country recorded 12503 road deaths. The current vehicle population in the country – according to official figures from the Road Traffic Management Corporation (RTMC) – is 11 267 812, with just over 7.3 million of these being motor vehicles.
Do you prioritise the safety in the vehicles you purchase? The ELVS Report should serve as a basis for your research.
The 27 vehicles surveyed for the 2020 installment of the Entry-Level Vehicle Safety Report were evaluated against the number of active safety features they have (anti-lock braking systems, electronic stability control), and passive safety features (airbags). Points are awarded to vehicles for the existence of each of the active and passive safety features. Additional points are awarded to vehicles crash tested under the NCAP system, in this case, Global NCAP’s #SaferCarsforAfrica program. Twelve vehicles available in South Africa have so far been tested under this system.
The 27 vehicles are categorised into three groups based on their safety ratings. These categories are Acceptable Safety, Moderate Safety, and Poor Safety.
“A significant finding of this year’s report is that only three of the vehicles are equipped with Electronic Stability Control. This is particularly concerning as ESC is a proven technology that can reduce road crashes. It’s astonishing and discouraging that so few vehicles come equipped with this technology as the standard for entry-level vehicles,” notes the AA.
In terms of true safety points attained, points of 20 or less are considered as having ‘poor’ safety. Safety points between 20 and 50 can be considered as having ‘moderate’ safety, and safety points of 50 and above can be considered as having ‘acceptable' safety.
In 2020, seven vehicles fall under the ‘poor safety’ category, 16 vehicles fall under the ‘moderate safety’ category, and ten vehicles fall under the ‘acceptable’ category. It should be noted that these figures are an improvement on 2019’s ratings where four vehicles fell under the ‘poor safety’ category, 16 vehicles fell under the ‘moderate safety’ category, and seven vehicles fell under the ‘acceptable’ category.
Toyota (2 cars), Volkswagen (1 car), Kia (1 car), Honda (1 car) and Peugeot (1 car) had all their entry-level vehicles score within the acceptable range. The Suzuki Ignis also scored in the acceptable safety range while the Suzuki Super Carry scored in the poor safety range. The Datsun Go+ Mid also scored in the acceptable safety range but only scored one star rating in the #SaferCarsforAfrica crash tests in 2018.
The Peugeot 108 received the highest safety rating of 110 points. The Peugeot 108 was the only entry-level vehicle to include a curtain airbag, and it was also the only vehicle to include all safety features considered in this report. The vehicle would probably have obtained a higher score had it been crash tested, and the AA therefore recommends that all manufacturers crash test their vehicles. These tests will not only improve the safety results of the cars but will also provide authoritative demonstrations of the vehicles’ safety levels.
The AA notes that this is desktop research and that the definitive measure of a vehicle’s safety can only be acquired through crash testing. Similar to the Datsun Go+, the Nissan NP300 would have scored highly in this research but it scored zero stars in the Global NCAP crash testing. The data presented here should be used as an indication of a vehicle’s safety equipment, and not as the sole indicator of the vehicle’s overall safety rating
In 2020, two vehicles fall under the ‘acceptable safety/affordability’ category, 15 vehicles fall under the ‘moderate safety/affordability’ category, and ten vehicles fall under the ‘poor safety/affordability’ categories.