Indian cars’ safety parameters to be better than global ones

This would help prospective buyers to take an informed decision while buying a new car. The Indian version of star rating will not only take into account safety of the occupants, but also pedestrians and other vulnerable road users

PRAVASISAMWAD.COM

Union Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari recently announced that India would soon have its own “Star Rating” system for safety parameters of cars. This would help prospective buyers to take an informed decision while buying a new car. The Indian version of star rating will not only take into account safety of the occupants, but also pedestrians and other vulnerable road users.

In addition, Gadkari announced a 12-point initiative and mandatory provisions in the motor vehicle rules including Electronic Stability Control (ESC), Advanced Emergency Braking and Driver Drowsiness Alert systems, which will be introduced to make vehicles safer for occupants and also for other road users. The road transport ministry will make it mandatory for all cars to have six airbags and the car makers will have to provide three-point seat belts for all front-facing passengers in a car. In fact, the two provisions were announced for implementation in October this year but industry sources said it would take more time for compliance.

India will have an improved version of the safety assessment programme than the G-NCAP and the government plans to publish the test results of all models of vehicles to create awareness among buyers

Currently, Global New Car Assessment Programme (G-NCAP) gives star ratings to Indian cars after carrying out crash tests and this has become popular in the past 6-7 years. India will have an improved version of the safety assessment programme than the G-NCAP and the government plans to publish the test results of all models of vehicles to create awareness among buyers.

“Nothing works better than competition. The carmakers will go for this if they want to remain in competition in the market. The aim of all these is to save lives. We lose 1.5 lakh lives every year,” Gadkari was quited saying in a Times of India (TOI) story.

A report in the TOI said that the safety assessment of cars will be done taking into account different aspects including the structure of the vehicles, safety of adult and child occupants, seat belt reminders, ESC, inbuilt safety assistance technology and also hill assist technology. The detailed protocols would be finalised in the next few months so that the necessary framework to implement this can start quickly. Taking a cue from the global practices, the star rating is likely to be voluntary for car makers.

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