Disparity in ratings of vehicles sold in international and Indian markets is unjustifiable and it must end immediately
In an incident, which caught the national attention, an SUV on the Chhindwara-Nagpur highway on June 11, 2021, split into two parts, following a crash, resulting in the death of three of the five passengers. The speeding SUV rammed into a bridge, while making an attempt to avoid a collision with a two-wheeler, leading to a structural split.
Interestingly, while the Indian model of this particular SUV received a mere three-star safety rating in the Safer Cars for India campaign under the Global New Car Assessment Program (GNCAP), its Australian counterpart has a five-star rating under the Australian NCAP. As regards child occupant safety, the former received a meagre two stars. This is a jarring example of the gap that exists between the structural integrity of car models sold in India vis-a-vis those sold in other countries, especially developed nations.
Any road crash scenario entails two main components. The first includes the reasons behind the crash, while the second deals with the causes for injuries or deaths. This is where essential safety equipment like seatbelts, Child Restraint System (CRS), airbags and a secure, stable, crash-tested body of the vehicle come into play. As components of the first line of defence that safeguard against possible injuries and fatality, their absence or inferior quality can prove to be catastrophic. For instance, as witnessed in the SUV split case, a weak car frame, incapable of sustaining the impact of a road crash, is one that would be unable to ensure the safety of occupants.
Despite being home to only one percent of the world’s vehicles, India shoulders 11 percent of the global road crash fatality burden. In 2020 alone, India reported 366,138 road crashes and 131,714 fatalities. As per the National Crime Records Bureau data, crashes caused due to vehicular defects alone claimed over 6,000 lives in the last three years. In India, 59 deaths were recorded per 100,000 registered passenger four-wheelers in 2019. This count was over six times higher than the corresponding number for the United States, which witnessed nine deaths per 100,000 registered passenger four-wheelers.
Thus far, India did not have a permanent car safety assessment rating system and all new car models were tested under the temporary Safer Cars of India campaign within the Global New Car Assessment Programme. In a historic move, on June 24, 2022 the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) issued a draft notification, introducing the Bharat New Car Assessment Programme (BNCAP). The program uses a combination of Indian and International parameters to assess the safety standards of M1 category vehicles. Applicable from April 1, 2023 onwards, this currently voluntary assessment will be instrumental towards engineering a shift in consumer behaviour by helping assign a safety rating to both manufactured and imported M1 vehicles.
The M1 category vehicles used for the carriage of passengers and their luggage and comprising no more than eight seats in addition to the driver's seat would be assessed through a robust crash testing process. The assessment would include side-impact, frontal impact and pole side-impact tests. Specifying different requirements for adult and child occupants, the tests within this proposed assessment would also take into consideration potential modifiers such as occupants of different sizes or occupants in different seating positions, among other similar aspects.
The BNCAP rating is expected to assist and have an overall positive impact on consumers, regulators as well as car manufacturers. Consumer behaviour studies in countries that have their own NCAP ratings have indicated a significant boost in demand for safer vehicles. The rating is bound to make a similar shift in consumer choices in India and the subsequent manufacture and supply of safer cars owing to the demand-pull incentive. A direct outcome may be the reduction in road crash injuries and fatalities involving M1 category passenger vehicles.
A stable structure that provides adequate protection while lowering the probability of life-threatening injuries is the right of every four-wheeler buyer. Irrespective of their geographic locations, all individuals have the right to expect the same high safety standards enjoyed by others buying the same model elsewhere. BNCAP will aid in closing the safety rating gap. BNCAP should mandatorily be applicable for all new M1 category vehicles. Eventually, like Euro NCAP and the U.S. NCAP, where even the M2 category vehicles (vans) are tested, in India too, the testing should be expanded. Many Indian car manufacturers have already begun voluntarily testing their four-wheelers with GNCAP. A few manufacturers, who are still uncomfortable, should understand that both customers and international markets are increasingly leaning towards safer cars. Such assessment would also be highly beneficial in opening up the larger international market for cars exported from India, thereby providing a significant boost to the Make in India campaign.
(Tewari is Founder & CEO of SaveLIFE Foundation, while Shahi is Senior Manager at SLF.)