Launch of Bharat NCAP, the country’s inhouse crash tests, to take place very soon, draft GSR notification approved
Soon cars in India will undergo what the union government calls ‘Bharat NCAP’ crash tests to check their crash worthiness as the launch of the programme is just around the corner. The NCAP here stands for New Car Assessment Programme.
Union Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari today revealed that he has approved the Draft General Statutory Rules (GSR) notification to introduce Bharat NCAP wherein automobiles in India shall be accorded star ratings based on their performance in crash tests.
The Minister said Bharat NCAP will serve as a consumer-centric platform allowing customers to opt for safer cars based on their star ratings while promoting a healthy competition among OEMs in India to manufacture safer vehicles.
“Star rating of Indian cars based on crash tests is extremely crucial not only to ensure structural and passenger safety but also to increase the export-worthiness of Indian automobiles,” he added.
Interestingly, the testing protocols of the upcoming Bharat NCAP will be aligned with global crash test protocols factoring in the existing Indian regulations. The OEMs will be called to get their vehicles tested at the country’s own in-house testing facilities.
According to Nitin Gadkari, Bharat NCAP will prove to be a critical instrument in making Indian automobile industry Aatmanirbhar with the mission of making India the number 1 automobile hub in the world.
In addition, Transport Ministry is also gearing up to mandate 6-airbag rule from October. As per the rule, all the passenger cars sold in the country should mandatorily have 6 airbags as standard across all the variants from 1st October.
The Ministry estimates that cars with airbags and seat belts would have saved the lives of at least one-third of the 39,000 people who lost their lives in road accidents recorded in 2020 due to head-on or side collisions.
