Toyota Starlet (South Africa) Scores Zero in Adult Occupant Protection Crash Test, Revealing Critical Structural Flaws

In the latest round of Global NCAP crash tests, the South African-spec Toyota Starlet—soon to be discontinued—scored zero points in adult occupant protection. Produced in India and sharing its platform with the Suzuki Baleno, the two models differ only slightly in bumper design, tailgate styling, and powertrain configurations. Despite coming standard with electronic stability control and dual front airbags, the test revealed severe structural deficiencies: the footwell area and overall bodyshell demonstrated extremely poor stability, deemed "unable to withstand further loading." During the side-impact barrier test, the absence of side airbags resulted in critically inadequate head and chest protection for occupants; only abdominal protection barely met minimum requirements. Due to its extremely poor performance, Global NCAP canceled the vehicle’s side pole impact test. The car scored 29.33 points in child occupant protection, earning a three-star rating, but in both frontal and side impacts, the head of the three-year-old dummy struck interior components, sustaining significant injuries. Richard Woods, CEO of Global NCAP, expressed shock that such a best-selling vehicle in South Africa received such a low rating, citing unstable body structure and weak head and chest protection as posing serious safety risks. Toyota South Africa responded by stating that the tested model was an older, discontinued version and does not represent the current-generation Starlet on sale today. The new model now comes standard with side airbags, head airbags, and curtain airbags across all variants. Global NCAP has already anonymously purchased the updated model for testing, with results to be published soon.