Cars in India to get ‘Star Ratings’ based on crash tests under Bharat NCAP: Gadkari

Union minister Nitin Gadkari has announced that he will soon introduce a new car assessment program for India called Bharat NCAP, wherein automobiles in India will be accorded ‘Star Ratings’ based upon their performance in crash tests. In a series of tweets Gadkari revealed that 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.

The minister believes that Star Rating 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.

How will cars gets Star Rating under Bharat NCAP programme

As explained by Nitin Gadkari, 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. “Bharat NCAP will prove to be a critical instrument in making our automobile  industry Aatmanirbhar with the mission of making India the Number 1 automobile hub in the world.” Gadkari said in a tweet.

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 set a target to reduce 50 per cent road accident deaths by 2024.

(with inputs from PTI)