A new test of the impact of LatinNCAP shows that continues to this vicious practice of some manufacturers, offer different versions of the same vehicle, depending on the market to which they are directed.
LatinNCAP premiered a few months ago a protocol more demanding and many of the models evaluated, they began to get results failed.
Such is the case of the Ford Ka made in Brazil, a model that had obtained four stars under the protocol earlier and now in a new impact test got the worst of the possible outcomes: zero stars.
The Ford Ka brazilian earned zero-star protection for occupant adult, and three stars in the case of occupant children. This new batch of tests on some of the cars that had already been evaluated previously leave exposed some of the tactics of the manufacturers, who choose to neglect some aspects of safety.
On this occasion the Ford Ka failed in the test of side impact, a new test began to apply LatinNCAP from last year. The car had a poor performance in the side impact test, seriously affecting the B-pillar, the passenger compartment and the chest of the occupant.
LatinNCAP considers that the Ford Ka made in Brazil is not able to approve the current standards of protection against side impacts (UN95), governing in Europe, since last 22 years.
Many models manufactured or marketed in the markets of Latin America continue to fail miserably in the impact tests LatinNCAP. It is true that the evaluation protocol is now more demanding, but it is what corresponds to equating the tests to those conducted in other regions.
A structure so weak as described by LatinNCAP in the new Ford Ka, it demonstrates that some manufacturers continue with this perverse practice of offering different versions of the same vehicle, depending on the market that are targeted. Recall that the new Ford Ka got three stars in impact tests of EuroNCAP, like so many other models that they fail in Latin America and achieve good results in the markets of Europe.