Having barely started selling its Fronx compact crossover in Australia and New Zealand, Suzuki has now issued a stop-sale order after local crash test agency ANCAP slapped it with one star out of five for safety.
After a few short-but-spectacular crash tests, the experts gave adult passenger protection a paltry 48%. Child safety landed at an even more dismal 40%. Studying the wreck revealed that everybody in the car ran an extremely high risk of severe chest injury in a head-on collision. Small kids could get their skull fractured (red alert level, up to lethal outcome). In addition to the above, all test mannequins were subjected to extreme forces, basically meaning that all kinds of severe injuries were possible and further testing was irrelevant.
As bleak as the above assessment may sound to the unfortunate Suzuki Fronx owners, it is topped by a particularly wild detail. The rear-seat safety belt tore loose from its pillar during a frontal collision test, sending the mannequin headfirst into the front seat. That’s the opposite of reassuring, to say the least.
All production of the Fronx CUV for the Southern Continent is being handled by India. Suzuki reported selling around 2,300 units total between AU and NZ since July 2025. It remains unclear whether a recall campaign will follow, but all sales of the car have been halted until the manufacturer overhauls its design with an emphasis on safety, which is expected to take several months.
