Starting from October 1, cars manufactured in India as well as imported ones will be given star rating based on their performance in crash tests, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways said in a notification.
The ‘Bharat New Car Assessment Programme’ (Bharat-NCAP) will be applicable on vehicles of category M1 with gross weight less than 3.5 tonne, reads the notification issued last week. The M1 category includes motor vehicles used for the carriage of passengers, comprising not more than eight seats, in addition to driver’s seat.
The programme is designed to provide a fair, meaningful and objective assessment of crash safety performance of cars on the basis of standard laboratory tests. It provides guidelines and mechanisms to inform consumers about the assessment.
“Bharat-NCAP shall be a voluntary programme, except otherwise stated in the vehicle selection guideline monitored by the ministry,” the notification reads.
The overall assessment is based on the performance of the vehicle model when evaluated under three areas – Adult Occupant Protection; Child Occupant Protection; and Safety Assist Technologies. For each of the assessment areas, there are individual tests and assessments.
According to the final draft, Bharat-NCAP will award separate ratings for the new vehicle for Adult Occupant Protection and Child Occupant Protection on the basis of performance in full vehicle crash tests and score achieved and fitment of safety assist technologies.
The policy specifies three crash tests that need to be performed on the new car for the assessment of star rating. These are – Offset Deformable Barrier Frontal Impact Test, Side Impact Test and Pole Side Impact Test.
An official told News18 that with BNCAP, the ministry is introducing the concept of safety rating of passenger cars.
“It empowers consumers to make informed decisions. It will ensure structural and passenger safety in cars and will promote export worthiness of the cars produced in the country and increase the domestic customer’s confidence in these vehicles. Additionally, the programme will encourage manufacturers to provide advanced safety technologies to earn higher ratings,” the official said, demanding anonymity.
They also said these ratings will not impact the cost of automobiles.
The official added that with automobiles of higher rating, the number of deaths in road accidents is likely to reduce significantly.
Last year, on June 24, while approving the policy, Union minister for Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari said Bharat-NCAP will serve as a consumer-centric platform allowing customers to opt for safer cars based upon their star-ratings, while promoting a healthy competition for manufacturing safer vehicles.
He also said the testing protocol of Bharat-NCAP will be aligned with global crash test protocols factoring in the existing Indian regulations to get their vehicles tested at India’s own in-house testing facilities.
At least 1.53 lakh lives were lost due to road accidents in India in 2021, the highest since 2011, according to annual report ‘Road accidents in India, 2021’.
Two-wheelers recorded the highest number of accidents (52,416) and death (22,786) followed by cars, taxis and vans. There were 25,431 accidents and 9,191 deaths related to cars, taxis and vans, the report added.
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