Car crash test rating not essential: Transport secy Giridhar Aramane

'Compliance with the central motor vehicle rules will suffice,' he clarified

Carmakers need not adhere to a minimum rank or threshold under the newly introduced Bharat New Vehicle Safety Assessment Programme (usually known as Bharat NCAP, or abbreviated to BNCAP) – India’s first car crash test rating – Road Transport and Highways Secretary Giridhar Aramane told Business Standard.

“Scoring a high star rating is not compulsory. Compliance with the central motor vehicle rules will suffice,” clarified Aramane.

The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways is of the opinion that crash test ratings should not lead to any major obstacles for automotive (auto) makers since there is no minimum threshold rating to adhere to.

Recently, Maruti Suzuki’s Chairman R C Bhargava said that meeting BNCAP standards should not be mandatory and opting for it should solely be a consequence of consumer preference.
 

“If customers start saying that they want cars that are safety rated, manufacturers will make it and charge customers for it,” Bhargava had told Business Standard. The veteran automaker said Indian roads are different from Europe’s and hence, the standards cannot be identical.

Another Japanese auto major Toyota signalled it would follow the crash regulations only if they are made mandatory.

“Toyota cars are known for their safety and reliability across the world. We will follow whatever is required under the law of the land,” said P B Venugopal, vice-president, Toyota Kirloskar Motor.

The road ministry believes BNCAP will only help consumers make an informed choice as they will be made aware of how safe their four-wheeler is.

“But they can continue to buy any vehicle as long as it adheres to the motor vehicle rules. Should a customer want to buy a car with a poor BNCAP rating, he/she will be free to do so. There is no restriction in place,” said a senior government official.

BNCAP is designed to offer an assessment of crash safety performance of cars based on laboratory tests, according to the Automotive Industry Standards. The evaluation, according to the draft notification, will comprise full-vehicle crash tests in three categories – adult occupant protection, child occupant protection, and safety-assist technologies.

The cars will have to go through an offset deformable barrier frontal impact test, a side-impact test, and a pole-side impact test, at speeds varying between 29 kilometres per hour (kmph) and 64 kmph.

Eight years after it was first introduced, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari released the draft BNCAP policy last week, based on the Global New Car Assessment Programme (GNCAP). The development was considered significant by many sector watchers who believed it was high time India had its own vehicle safety standards.

While some Indian four-wheelers have been doing well in the global crash tests, many cars, especially in the entry-level segment, have ratings as poor as zero in the GNCAP tests. Maruti’s Alto, the S-Presso, and the Eeco, and Hyundai’s Verna have had a particularly poor run in these tests.

India ranks poorly when it comes to road accidents, witnessing 500,000 road mishaps and 150,000 consequent deaths. While Gadkari admits that accident-prone blackspots and faulty road preparation contribute significantly to the casualties, he’s repeatedly underscored the importance of having safer drives.

Recently, Gadkari called out the double standards of some car manufacturers who were not providing the same safety features in cars sold in India as the ones provided in the same model of vehicles meant for exports to other countries.

He said some auto companies “have been constantly opposing” the proposal of six airbags in cars, which have been proposed only to save lives.

The new BNCAP safety standards are expected to be enforced in April 2023, and some sector experts believe that companies that had been avoiding the issue of safety will now have to fall in line.

With inputs from Arindam Majumder