Maruti Baleno (3-star NCAP) Saves Occupants in Crash, Owner Thanks Build Quality

Maruti Baleno is the highest selling car in its segment. It rivals the likes of the Hyundai i20, Honda Jazz, and Volkswagen Polo. The Baleno is often referred to as a car with poor crash test rating, as it scored a 3-star crash test rating at EURO-NCAP’s testbed. However, we recently came across a set of images via a social media platform, where a Maruti Baleno crashed into a divider. Fortunately, the occupants walked out of the car without any injuries, whatsoever.

The accident took place on the Salem-Bangalore highway when the driver fell asleep while driving. As a result, the car collided with the divider and ran over it for around 200 meters before jumping towards the other side of the road. The owner claims that the speed of the car was around 80 kmph when it collided with the road divider. The impact of the collision was high, thus, airbags were deployed, and the car suffered a lot of damages.

Since it was a head-on collision, this Baleno ended up with a damaged front bumper, cracked headlamps, crumpled bonnet, and damaged condenser and radiator. Talking of the safety aids, the Baleno comes equipped with dual front airbags, ABS with EBD, rear parking sensors, seat belts with pre-tensioners and load-limiters, seat belt alarm, ISOFIX child seat mount with top tethers, and high-speed notifications as standard fitment across the range.

Maruti Baleno is available with two iterations of the 1.2L K-series motors – K12M and K12N Dualjet. While the former is capable of putting out a peak power output of 83 PS, the latter can churn out 90 PS of rated power output. However, the peak torque remains identical on both of these engines at 113 Nm. The transmission options on the Baleno include a 5-speed MT and a CVT. Moreover, it is available with Maruti’s 48-volt SHVS technology. Talking of the prices, the Baleno starts at Rs. 5.64 lakh and goes up to Rs. 8.96 lakh. Also, it is quite frugal with an ARAI-claimed fuel efficiency figure of 21.96 kmpl and 19.56 kmpl for manual and automatic variants, respectively.