Maruti Ciaz Gets ISOFIX Mounts For Child Seats

The trend of better equipping cars with safety features has picked up in the market. After the Polo got Anti-Lock Braking System (ABS) as standard, the Ciaz will now get ISOFIX mounts for child seats. What're those, you ask? They are the standardised mounts to fit a child seat on the rear seat of a car. They use metal bar connectors which are attached directly to the chassis of the car and are hidden underneath the cushioning of the rear seat. A similar update was given to the Mahindra TUV300 when it received the mHawk100 engine. 

The addition of ISOFIX mounts will make the Ciaz a safer vehicle for children. As is often the case, child seats are not properly mounted onto the car, which results in them dismounting and actually proving dangerous, especially in case of an accident. According to the ASEAN NCAP, the sedan has scored a 4-star rating for Adult Occupant Protection (AOP), with 14.56 points. But the absence of ISOFIX mounts had resulted in the Ciaz having a Child Occupant Protection (COP) compliance of 37 per cent, which falls under 2-star rating. We now expect the sedan to do better in the COP. 

The Ciaz is available in the country with a 1.4-litre petrol and a 1.3-litre diesel engine. The diesel engine is further equipped with Suzuki's mild hybrid technology, called SHVS. As a result, the diesel variants of the car return a claimed fuel economy of 28.09kmpl. The petrol engine produces 92PS/130Nm, whereas the diesel one produces 89PS/200Nm. In terms of safety, the Ciaz comes equipped with ABS, dual airbags and now ISOFIX child safety mounts. Ciaz's rival, the Volkswagen Vento's safety list was recently updated with ABS and dual front airbags becoming a standard feature in all the variants; but the Ciaz's base variant still misses out on ABS and a passenger airbag. We expect this to be fixed with the new Ciaz model coming up in 2017.