Implementing a car safety programme

Why in the News?

The Bharat New Car Assessment Programme (NCAP) was rolled out by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways to create a rating system indicating the safety of cars in a collision and is planned to come into effect from October 1, 2023.

What is Bharat NCAP?

1. An indigenous star-rating system for crash testing cars.
2. Based on the crash testing results, vehicles will be assigned between one to five stars in correspondence to their safety in a collision.
3. Objective of the programme:
   1. To help consumers make an informed decision before purchasing a car, thereby spurring demand for safer cars.
   2. India sees nearly 1.5 lakh road fatalities in a year, accounting for 10% of deaths due to road crashes globally with only 1% of the world’s vehicles.
   3. According to a World Bank study, road crashes are estimated to cost the Indian economy between 5 to 7% of GDP a year.
4. Under the Bharat NCAP, cars voluntarily nominated by automobile manufacturers will be crash tested as per protocols laid down in the soon-to-be-published Automotive Industry Standard 197.
5. The rating system shall be voluntary for adoption by automobile companies, but in certain cases such as it becomes mandatory:
   1. For a base model of a popular variant (minimum clocked sale of 30,000 units)
   2. When the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways recommends a model for testing based on market feedback or in the interest of public safety
6. The programme is applicable to passenger vehicles with not more than eight seats in addition to the driver’s seat with gross vehicle weight not exceeding 3,500 kgs.
7. Cars will be assigned a rating between one star to five stars after being evaluated on three parameters
   1. Adult occupant protection
   2. Child occupant protection
   3. Safety assist technologies present in the car.
8. The launch of the Bharat NCAP is another step to enhance road safety regulations rolled out in the past years such as mandatory dual front airbags, anti-lock braking system, seatbelt reminder and reverse parking sensors.

How has Bharat NCAP evolved?

1. It has been modelled on the lines of Global NCAP, a project of the U.K.-based NGO, Towards Zero Foundation that launched a Safer Cars for India campaign in 2014.
2. It serves as a platform for co-operation among new car assessment programmes worldwide, including countries such as the U.S. which has the world’s oldest crash testing regime since 1978.
3. In 2018, Tata achieved India’s first 5-star cars.
4. Now there is increased competition among manufacturers to obtain four and five- star results and using ratings in their marketing. This has also led to a sharp fall in the number of zero- star models in the Indian market.

Way forward:

1. India needs to develop its crash testing capabilities and knowledge expertise for the meaningful implementation of Bharat NCAP programme

• For instance, software system wired to the dummies placed inside cars can be used to assess the nature and extent of injuries to analyse scores.

2. India needs to align Bharat NCAP with global standards by expanding testing parameters.
   1. For instance, the U.S. NCAP also includes a roll-over test which tests whether a vehicle is vulnerable to tipping up on the road in a severe manoeuvre.
   2. Similarly, Japan’s NCAP covers
      1. electric shock protection performance after a collision
      2. performance of neck injury protection in a rear end collision
      3. passenger seat belt reminder evaluation
      4. evaluation of pedestrian protection technologies apart from preventive safety performance such as autonomous emergency braking system