How safe is your car? All about BharatNCAP

Source: The post is based on the article “How safe is your car? All about Bharat NCAP”  published in Livemint on 17th July 2023

What is the News?

India will get its own crash safety star rating for four-wheelers called Bharat New Car Assessment Programme (NCAP) from 1st October,2023.This will help make cars safer than they are today.

What is Bharat New Car Assessment Programme (NCAP)?

Bharat NCAP is a new safety assessment programme for passenger vehicles that can seat up to eight people and weigh less than 3.5 tonnes.

As part of the programme, cars will be crash-tested and given points which in turn would translate into stars. The safest of the lot will get five stars. 

How will the cars be tested?

Source: Livemint

There will be three types of crash tests — frontal, side and pole-side impact tests. Scoring would be done for both adult safety for front passengers and child safety at the rear. 

Out of a maximum 32 points for adult safety, a car would have to score at least 27 for a 5-star rating.

For child safety, a 5-star rating would be awarded for those cars that score a minimum 41 out of 49 points.

Will all cars come with star ratings from 1 October?

Bharat NCAP will be rolled out from 1 October but it will be voluntary, so cars will only be tested at the request of makers.

What’s the point if it is not mandatory?

Even in developed countries, NCAPs are mostly voluntary. They are aimed at nudging firms to offer more than the basic safety features by sparking competition. 

What is the significance of Bharat NCAP?

Firstly, it will bring India at par with other parts of the world like the US, Europe, Japan, Australia and Latin America that have NCAPs of their own.

Secondly, it will bring about more transparency, create awareness among consumers and help buyers choose cars based on their safety credentials.