More than 3 Dozen Cars to Undergo Bharat NCAP Crash Tests

News Highlights

• As of now, India has mandated crash tests for car manufacturers to sell off their cars across the country.
• The programme commenced from October 1st but tests will commence after Diwali in December this year.

From December 15 onwards, over 3 dozen cars from Korena, Indian, and Japanese companies are going to undergo crash tests conducted by Bharat NCAP. 

India debuted the Bharat NCAP or Bharat New Car Assessment Programme made suitable for Indian standards and is modelled on Global NCAP. This programme is made to set straight safety measures for vehicles in the country.

Though Bharat NCAP came into force on October 1st, the government officials commented that the tests will resume from December post Diwali festivities. 

As of now, India has mandated crash tests for car manufacturers to sell off their cars across the country. The safety factors covered under BNCAP crash tests are - child occupant protection (COP), safety assist technologies (SAT), and adult occupant protection (AOP). Importers or automakers will have to apply in Form 70-A to the agencies assigned by the centre. These agencies will then designate star ratings to the vehicles from a range of 0 to 5 as per the AIS or Automotive Indian Standards totally depending on their overall performance. 

“Even though the safety ratings are not mandatory, we have got an excellence response from the car manufacturers and all of them are vying for a 5-star rating,” the official commented.

Read More: Tata Motors Receives India's First Auto PLI Certificate from ARAI 

Tata Motors is the very first firm to have employed the BNCAP rating, the official said. The firm’s brand-new launched models of Harrier and Safari will be the first to undergo the crash tests, another government official suggested. 

Hyundai Motor India and Maruti Suzuki India will send 3 models each and Mahinda & Mahindra will send 4 models for the test. Spokesperson at these firms commented that they’ll soon disclose the name of models going to be crash tested at an appropriate time.

In line with the GNCAP standards, the testing agencies will pick 3 units of the base variant of each model. 

Furthermore, European automakers including Skoda Auto, Stellantis Group, Renault India, and Volkswagen India are not getting rushed in to get their vehicles tested under specific safety-rating just now. Whereas some said that they’re undergoing review as to which models they’re looking forward to get tested, other carmakers said that their car models have already been given safety-ratings by Global NCAP and thus in the coming time not looking to opt BNCAP ratings, said people aware of these companies’ plans. The company officials at these companies declined to comment.

The centre government’s testing agencies- Automotive Research Association of India (ARAIi) & ICAT (International Centre for Automotive Technology) and Global Automotive Research(GAR), among others, have been consigned with the task of carrying out the crash tests.