The Dacia Duster (European counterpart of the Renault Duster) has been able to score a decent 3-star safety rating at the Euro NCAP. In this post henceforth, I will be addressing it as the Renault Duster. These two are the same SUVs. They are just different in the nomenclature based on geographical location. A few months ago, the Renault Duster was revealed for the international markets. In fact, it is now on sale in some countries. For us, we remember the Duster as the vehicle which was responsible for the inception of the mid-size SUV segment back in 2012. However, due to the increased competition and declining sales, it was discontinued in India in 2022.
Renault Duster at Euro NCAP
In the overall rating scheme, the Renault Duster was able to score 3 stars. This is a result of a 70% score in Adult Occupant Protection (AOP), 84% score in Child Occupant Protection (COP), 60% score in the Vulnerable Road Users category and 57% score in the Safety Assist section. For this test, the standard safety equipment includes dual front airbags, seatbelt pretensioner, reminder and load limiter for all seats, side airbags, ISOFIX child seat anchorages, airbag cut-off switch, autonomous emergency braking, lane assist system, fatigue and distraction detection.
Adult Occupant Protection
In the AOP section, the SUV scored a decent 28.1 points out of a possible 40. This includes 11.4 points out of 16 in Frontal Impact, 12 points out of 16 in Lateral Impact, 3.6 points out of 4 in Rear Impact and 1.2 points out of 4 in Rescue and Extrication. The passenger compartment remained stable in the frontal offset test. For the driver and passenger, the knees and femurs demonstrated good protection while the driver’s chest protection was weak. In the full-width rigid barrier test, protection was rated as marginal for the chest of the driver and rear passenger. In addition, the Duster has no countermeasure to mitigate head-to-head contact between the front seat occupants, so far-side protection was rated as poor.
Child Occupant Protection
In the COP category, the Renault Duster bagged 41.6 points out of a possible 49. Note that the Euro NCAP test analyses the crash test performance based on 6 and 10-year-old children, safety features and CRS installation check. In the first department, the SUV received an almost perfect 23.6 points out of 24, while in the second, it just got 6 points out of 13. Finally, the CRS installation category brought a full 12 points out of 12. The protection was found adequate apart from the neck protection of the 10-year-old child in the frontal test.
Duster provided good protection of all critical body areas for both child dummies in the frontal offset and side barrier impacts. The front passenger airbag can be disabled to allow a rearward-facing child restraint to be used in that seating position. That resulted in some added points. However, the SUV doesn’t have a child presence detection system in place. That could be a little frustrating. All types of child restraint systems (CRS) can be accommodated in the Renault Duster.
Vulnerable Road Users
In this section, the vehicle was able to secure just 38.2 points of out a maximum of 63. This includes 21.9 points out of 36 in the VRU Impact Protection section and 16.2 points out of 27 in the VRU Impact Mitigation category. Under the former, the things which are tested are Pedestrian & Cyclist Head, Pelvis, Femur and Knee & Tibia. In the second test, Autonomous Emergency Braking for Pedestrian, Autonomous Emergency Braking for Cyclist, Cyclist Dooring Prevention, Autonomous Emergency Braking for Motorcyclist and Lane Support Motorcyclist are considered.
The protection of the head of a struck pedestrian or cyclist was predominantly good or adequate, with poor results recorded on the stiff windscreen pillars and along the base of the screen. However, the protection of the pelvis was poor at all test locations. Also, the protection of the femur was good while that of the tibia was mixed in all test points. Overall, the system’s response to pedestrians was adequate while its response to cyclists was good.
Safety Assist
Finally, the Renault Duster was able to secure 10.3 points out of 18. This consists of 1.3 points out of 3 in the Speed Assistance category, 0.3 points out of 3 in Occupant Status Monitoring, 1.8 points out of 3 in Lane Support and 6.6 points out of 9 in Autonomous Emergency Braking Car-to-Car. Overall, the performance of the autonomous emergency braking (AEB) system was adequate in tests of its reaction to other vehicles. The 0 points in seatbelt reminder is due to the fact that the SUV has no occupant detection system which is the prerequisite. The lane support system gently corrects the vehicle’s path if it is drifting out of the lane and also intervenes in some more critical situations. In essence, I expect a similar score for the India-bound Duster. However, the testing procedure of the Bharat NCAP is slightly different than the Euro NCAP. Hence, the ratings could also be different.
You may also like: India-Bound Renault Duster 3-Row SUV Spotted Testing
