Bharat NCAP vehicle safety programme to be rolled out from April next year

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The new car safety assessment programme, Bharat NCAP, which proposes a mechanism of awarding ‘Star Ratings’ to automobiles based upon their performance in crash tests, will be rolled out from April 1, 2023, an official statement said on Saturday.

According to the statement, Bharat New Car Assessment Programme (Bharat NCAP) is applicable on type approved motor vehicles of category M1 (motor vehicles used for the carriage of passengers, comprising eight seats, in addition to driver’s seat) with gross vehicle weight less than 3.5 tonnes, manufactured or imported in the country.

The standard is aligned with global benchmarks and it is beyond minimum regulatory requirements, it said.

The statement said Bharat NCAP rating will provide consumers an indication of the level of protection offered to occupants by evaluating the vehicle in the areas of — adult occupant protection, child occupant protection and safety assist technologies.

The testing of vehicles for this programme will be carried out at testing agencies, with the necessary infrastructure, it added.

In a series of tweets, Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari said the Bharat New Car Assessment Programme (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 among original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) in India to manufacture safer vehicles.

“I have now approved the draft GSR notification to introduce Bharat NCAP (New Car Assessment Program), wherein automobiles in India shall be accorded Star Ratings based upon their performance in crash tests,” Gadkari had said.

The Road Transport and Highways minister had stressed that Star Ratings of Indian cars based on crash tests is extremely crucial not only to ensure structural and passenger safety in cars, but to also increase the export-worthiness of Indian automobiles.

The testing protocol of Bharat NCAP shall be aligned with global crash-test protocols factoring in the existing Indian regulations, allowing OEMs to get their vehicles tested at India’s own in-house testing facilities, Gadkari had said.

According to him, Bharat NCAP will prove to be a critical instrument in making our automobile industry Aatmanirbhar with the mission of making India the top automobile hub in the world.

Bharat NCAP will encourage manufacturers to participate voluntarily in the safety testing assessment programme and incorporate higher safety levels in new car models.

The proposed assessment will allocate Star Ratings from 1 to 5 stars.

The initiative is aimed at making mobility safer amid the country witnessing a total of 3,66,138 road accidents during the calendar year 2020, causing 1,31,714 deaths.

Recently, Gadkari had said the government has aims to reduce 50 per cent road accident deaths by 2024.