India to get new car safety rating platform; How a car crash test really work?

There is a lot of thought, engineering, work and the sacrifice of dummies that goes into making the cars and roads safer for the end user.
Bharat New Car Assessment Programme (NCAP) is all set to roll out from April 1, 2023. Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari approved the Draft GSR Notification for India’s car safety agency last week. Under the NCAP, automobiles in the country shall be accorded star ratings based on their performance in crash tests.

What is crash test?

A crash test is a type of destructive testing undertaken to ensure safety standards for different vehicle designs. Simply put, it is crashing a vehicle under controlled conditions to be able to assess its safety for passengers.
A lot of thought and preparation goes into making sure that safe cars are on the roads. Going by that, there are different kinds of crash tests ranging from frontal-impact tests, moderate overlap tests, small overlap tests, side-impact tests, pole-impact tests, roll-over tests, roadside hardware crash tests to sled tests.

How does it really work?

Before coming to the modalities of car crash testing, one needs to know what replaces humans in the process of making cars safe. Dummies. Automotive crash tests are done using dummies, which have to be standardised to ensure consistent results. For instance, in the US, all frontal crash tests are conducted using the same type of dummy — the Hybrid III dummy.
The simple job for a dummy is to simulate a human being during a crash, while collecting data that would not be possible to collect had an actual human being been in its place. For this reason, dummies are built from materials that closely mimic the human physiology, like the spine made from alternating layers of metal discs and rubber pads.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) under the United States Department of Transportation conducts two types of crash tests as part of the New Car Assessment Program — one to test frontal impact and other to test the side impact, both at 56 kmph (35 mph). In the former, the car runs straight into a solid concrete barrier, which is an equivalent to hitting another car of comparable weight moving at the same speed.
In the side-impact test, a sled weighing 1,368 kilograms (3,015 pounds) with angled tires and a deformable "bumper" runs into the side of the vehicle being tested. This simulates a vehicle crossing an intersection being sideswiped by a car running a red light. This is a crucial test as it is these kinds of impacts which result in accidents with a significant likelihood of fatality. This is because the cars do not have a significant ‘crumple zone’ or a crush zone to absorb the impact forces before an occupant is injured.

Indian safety standards

If Bharat NCAP rolls in only in April next year, how were vehicles being tested for safety and assessed for their crashworthiness in India all along? Until now, the Global New Car Assessment Programme (Global NCAP) has been testing ‘Made-In-India’ cars under its "Safer Cars for India" initiative. The Global NCAP is an initiative under UK Charity — the Towards Zero Foundation which is “working internationally for a world free from road fatalities and life changing serious injuries by promoting safe and sustainable mobility.”
The Global NCAP also supports New Car Assessment Programmes (NCAPs) in emerging markets like India’s Bharat NCAP, by offering technical support guidance and quality assurance. And this is in line with what Minister Gadkari said about “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."
To this effect, Global NCAP has adopted a Road Map for Safer Vehicles 2020 which provides a recommended timetable for UN Member States to apply the most important UN vehicle safety regulations. It has a set of parameters as explained in their chart below.
Road Map for Safer Vehicles 2020  Credits Global NCAP
Road Map for Safer Vehicles 2020 | Credits: Global NCAP
Global NCAP recommends that these regulations, or equivalent national performance standards, are applied to new models first, and then eventually to all vehicles in production towards a "world free from road fatalities and serious injuries."
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