Soon after the ban laid out by Gauhati High Court on sub-1,500kg vehicles which failed the crash test, Global NCAP has urged India (SIAM) to adapt and implement United Nations standards for the front and side impact test beginning from January 1, 2015. On June 26, Gauhati High Court banned 140 models from different manufacturers which failed the crash-test norms. The next hearing in this case is due on August 27.
David Ward, the Secretary General of Global NCAP told Autocar Professional that India is 20 years behind the European countries in terms of vehicular safety. Many Indian and international auto manufacturers already meet global safety norms in the units they export, so it will not be difficult for them to adopt the same practice in India as well.
In the letter addressed to Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), Ward wrote “In the wake of the recent Assam Interim Court Order banning the sale of small four-wheelers that fail international crash tests, and ahead of the new occupant protection regulations being applied by the Indian Government from October 2017, Global NCAP respectfully encourages SIAM to take its own voluntary initiative on the car safety.” He further explained how European automakers take voluntary initiatives to enhance and enforce road safety in order to convince the Indian car companies to follow the same.
Last year, NCAP performed frontal offset crash test in which many cars in our country like Maruti Alto, Hyundai i10, Ford Figo and Datsun Go failed. These tests are a standard in the developed markets and have to be met by all car companies in all their models. Sadly, India is yet to see such a strict implication.
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