Nitin Gadkari Introduces India’s First Crash Testing Initiative: Bharat NCAP

During his talk, Nitin Gadkari highlighted, “Right now, our main focus is to protect people’s lives, and making sure that road safety is extremely important in reaching that goal.”

Nitin Gadkari, who is in charge of roads and highways, introduced the long-awaited Bharat New Car Assessment Programme (Bharat NCAP) on Tuesday. This program aims to make vehicles weighing up to 3.5 tonnes safer on the roads. Starting from October 1, 2023, Bharat NCAP will come into effect. Gadkari mentioned that this is India’s very own crash testing initiative, designed to enhance the safety aspects of vehicles. He also pointed out that India faces two major challenges: road accidents and air pollution. Each year, around 500,000 accidents happen in India, leading to 150,000 deaths.

During his speech, Gadkari stressed the significance of this day for both the automobile industry and society at large, as it will enhance the safety features of vehicles. He highlighted that the Bharat NCAP (New Car Assessment Programme) has been thoughtfully developed, taking into consideration the viewpoints of all involved parties.

Under this plan, car makers can choose to have their vehicles tested following the Automotive Industry Standard (AIS) 197. After the car undergoes tests, it will receive star ratings between 0 and 5 for both adult passengers (AOP) and child passengers (COP), based on how well it performs.

Gadkari emphasized, “Right now, our main focus is to protect people’s lives, and making sure that road safety is extremely important in reaching that goal. There are issues with how roads are designed; our way of creating detailed project reports is flawed. We are working hard to educate our engineers about the mistakes we keep making in road design.”

According to an official statement, potential car buyers can use these star ratings to compare the safety levels of different vehicles, which can help them decide which car to buy. It’s expected that the demand for safer cars will grow, encouraging car manufacturers to meet customer preferences.

“With higher safety standards, Indian cars can compete better globally, boosting the export potential of Indian car makers. This initiative is anticipated to shape a safety-conscious car market in India,” stated the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways.

Last year, Gadkari mentioned that Bharat-NCAP would give consumers the ability to choose safer cars based on star ratings, drive healthy competition among Indian automakers to create safer vehicles, and integrate enhanced safety measures into new car models based on recognized criteria.