VWs available in India are far safer than Japanese cars, if for no reason other than the all steel construction. VWs are heavy too; you'll need more than one person to push if the battery runs out and you have to push start it. You'll have seen plenty of wrecked Japanese cars on Indian roads; they collapse like empty aluminium cans. The post-crash VWs I've seen in India have at least had intact cabins.
Cheap and unsafe cars are also made of steel. Steel is a cheap material and there are many different types of it, of varying strengths.
A car being made entirely out of a strong material does not necessarily make it safe, either. Modern vehicles with good safety ratings are made out of many different types of material of various strengths in different locations. https://www.media.volvocars.com/global/en-gb/media/photos/34...
Like any engineering project, design is more important than materials used.
I suppose all cars are supposed to crush like aluminum cans in their crumple zones, just the cabin needs to stay intact. But good point, I might try to find a scrap yard just to stroll around and see this pattern!
