Is Bharat NCAP Able To Transform Car Safety In India?

The Bharat New Car Assessment Programme (BNCAP), introduced by the Indian government in August of last year, is a significant step towards revolutionizing vehicle safety.

This regulatory organization will be in charge of the crucial job of assessing and ranking automobile safety performance. Over the last several years, India has seen a tremendous growth in the number of automobiles.

Concurrently, there has been an increase in traffic accident cases, necessitating the establishment of a specialized organization tasked with enhancing the safety aspects of two- and four-wheelers. The government has launched a number of programs that require certain safety features in both new and used vehicles.

The Anti-lock Braking System (ABS) becomes required for all vehicles with an engine displacement of 125 cc or more in April 2019. According to The Financial Express, Indian manufacturers have been requested to include safety technologies such as rear parking sensors, seatbelt reminder alarms, speed warning systems, and front passenger airbags in their new models.

The inability to utilize safety equipment at the appropriate time was shown to be the second biggest cause of mortality in traffic accidents in 2022, despite these technologies being required. 16,715 individuals died from not utilizing seat belts, compared to over 50,000 motorcycle riders who perished because they failed to wear helmets. The World Health Organization (WHO) reports that, accounting for 11% of all deaths in that year, road fatalities were highest in India.

A worldwide organization called the Global New Car Assessment Programme (GNCAP) evaluates automobile safety performance. Most of the Global NCAP’s testing procedures and standards are also shared by the Bharat NCAP, which is based on its most current protocols.

One characteristic that differentiates the two is the highest degree of Adult Occupant Protection (AOP). In GNCAP, a car may get up to 34 AOP points; however, Bharat NCAP only assigns up to 32 points.

The difference arises from the fact that the GNCAP awards bonus points for seat belt reminders on the front and rear seats. The Bharat NCAP also promotes the installation of six airbags, electronic stability control (ESC), improved emergency braking systems, and three-point seatbelts for all passengers, based on AIS 197. A set of standardized crash test procedures designed for Indian passenger cars is known as AIS-197.

In accordance with the most recent version of the Global NCAP standard, the car’s results in frontal offset, side impact, and side pole impact crash tests are what determine the rating. If the manufacturer wants a particular vehicle to get a 4 or 5-star rating, the Bharat NCAP protocol subjects the automobile to a frontal-offset crash test at 64 kph, a side-impact test at 50 kph, and a side-pole-impact test at 29 kph.