Top 6 Safest Cars for under Rs 15 lakh

While looking to buy a new car, we all tend to obsess over how good it looks, the amount of features on board and lastly, how safe it is. We live in a nation with famously unparalleled levels of bad traffic sense after all. The good thing is, buyers nowadays don’t need to spend a fortune to get a new car which focuses heavily on occupant safety. And to make it easier for you we have prepared this list which features six of the safest cars spread across all the major segments, for under Rs 15 lakh.

The parameters we considered for this list were the presence of s ABS, EBD, ESP (electronic stability program) and airbags. These features help keep the vehicle straight and composed under unfavourable circumstances and provide a layer of passive safety to the occupants in case of an incident. We have also considered other safety-oriented tech such as cornering headlights that follow the movements of the steering wheel for extra illumination as well as auto-dimming rear view mirrors. The latter automatically detects and reduces the glare of headlights from vehicles behind you.

Hatchback – Nissan Micra

The Micra may not be a popular choice but it is certainly among the safest entry-level hatchbacks on sale today. We say safest because even the most basic of petrol and diesel variants come equipped with a driver-side airbag and speed sensing door locks.

The top-spec XV variant, on the other hand, features a load of safety tech. You get four airbags, ABS, EBD and brakeassist as standard.

Nissan Micra ex-showroom price range: Rs 5.17 lakh to Rs 7.47 lakh.

Premium Hatchback – Hyundai Elite i20

You probably know the i20 as a spacious and practical hatchback, but did you know that it’s highly safe as well? Thepremium hatchback features dual SRS airbags, ABS with EBD, improved structural integrity and auto-dimming rear view mirror. Hyundai, however, has omitted the optional safety pack with six airbags that featured in the old car.

Hyundai Elite i20 ex-showroom price range: Rs 5.34 lakh to Rs 8.28 lakh.

Compact Sedan - Ford Figo Aspire

The recently launched Ford Figo Aspire left us impressed with its competitive prices although Ford made us all extra happy by offering airbags as standard across all variants. Better still, the carmaker is offering the top-spec Titanium Plus variant with six airbags – a first in the compact sedan segment.

Besides half a dozen airbags, the top-spec Figo Aspire gets ABS, EBD and auto-dimming rear view mirror as standard. The automatic model, meanwhile, also gets ESP and hill-hold function that temporarily stops the car from rolling backwards when making a hill start.

Ford Figo Aspire ex-showroom price range: Rs 4.9 lakh to Rs 8.25 lakh.

Hyundai Verna 4S

Besides being a powerful and feature-rich C-segment sedan, the Verna also happens to be one of the safest cars in its class. Standard safety features on top-spec variants include up to six airbags and ABS with EBD. However, what’s sorely missed are disc brakes on all four corners. Hyundai, rather shockingly, decided to opt for a drum brake setup for the rear end instead of discs like in the previous Verna.

Hyundai Verna 4S ex-showroom price range: Rs 7.80 lakh to Rs 12.28 lakh.

Compact Crossover – Hyundai Creta

The recently introduced Hyundai Creta offers an ideal blend of size, safety features and good build quality to make it one of the safest cars on this side of Rs 15 lakh. Hyundai, in fact, is known for packing its cars with safety features and the Creta is no different. It is also by far the best-specced vehicle in this list of highly safe cars.

The top-spec SX(O) diesel variant comes with 6 six airbags, ABS, EBD and electronic stability control. Besides these, the Creta also features cornering headlamps, auto-dimming rear-view mirror, rear park assist and some more.

Hyundai Creta ex-showroom price range: Rs 8.60 lakh to Rs 13.60 lakh.

SUV – Mahindra XUV500

When it comes to safety, we are highly impressed with Mahindra’s effort on the new XUV500. For starters, the top-end W10 version of the SUV gets what we have come to expect in a vehicle of this size – six airbags, ABS with EBD and ESP.

In addition to these, the XUV also features side impact beams and rollover mitigation system for optimum occupantprotection. It also gets an all-round disc brake setup. Good job there, Mahindra!

Mahindra XUV500 ex-showroom price range: Rs 11.20 lakh to Rs 15 lakh.