India to get new car crash testing platform: Why are automakers vying for star ratings?

India will soon get a domestic car crash testing platform called Bharat NCAP (New car Assessment Programme) setting the stage for a more competitive auto industry. Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari said that car manufacturers will be able to go to Bharat NCAP to get ratings for their models, enabling customers to make more informed choices, and it may even be good for exports.

India’s automobile industry drives growth being the largest contributorto the manufacturing sector and one of the largest employers. According to a PIB report, the automobile industry contributes to nearly 6.4 per cent of India’s GDP and 35 per cent of manufacturing GDP.

India’s automotive industry has succeeded in mass volume, lower value and lower technology products. But as the country envisions itself as a manufacturing hub of electric vehicles in the near future, companies must aim for high-value advanced automotive technology vehicles and products such as sunroofs, adaptive frontlighting, automatic braking, tyre pressure monitoring system, and collision warning systems, among others.

The government hopes that the Bharat NCAP platform will set higher benchmarks for Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs) and promote healthy competition among them. As per government data, the size of Indian Original Equipments Manufacturers ( OEMs) is US $ 80.8 billion with exports of US $ 11.7 billion. The size of auto component industry is US $ 57 billion with exports of US $ 15 billion.

How do Indian cars fare on crash tests?

India does not mandate crash tests and those manufacturers who sought a rating did so on a voluntary basis at their research labs or would send the cars to independent agencies like Global NCAP in the UK. Global NCAP is a charity organisation and obtains the cars it tests on its own and not from the manufacturers.

In 2014, the organisation (which is not a regulator) severely criticised India-designed and manufactured models after some of the best-selling car models performed miserably on the crash tests, getting zero stars in both passenger and child safety.

It was eye-opening for Indian customers that cars like Maruti Suzuki Swift, the Maruti Suzuki Alto, Renault Kwid, Maruti Suzuki Celerio, Datsun Go, Hyundai Eon and the Mahindra Scorpio lacked features that were becoming standard the world over.

Since then, Indian manufacturers have made strides in improving safety ratings. Mahindra & Mahindra (M&M) and Tata Motors have sent their vehicles to Global NCAP for the crash tests and some of their new products including the Tata Nexon, Punch and M&M’s XUV300 and XUV700, have got five-star ratings.

After Mahindra’s best-selling Scorpio with no airbags fetched zero stars at the Global NCAP test, the manufacturer quickly made amends and these have undoubtedly helped to improve sales.

The Mahindra XUV300 is in fact the safest car on Indian roads right now, having achieved five stars for adult protection and four stars for child occupant protection. Mahindra Thar received a four-star rating for both adult and child occupant protection

Cars like the Tata Nexon, Tata Tigor and Tata Tiago have earned four stars for adult protection and three for child protection, across the range.

Tata and Mahindra have edged ahead in the safety rating race.

However, India’s largest passenger car maker Maruti Suzuki India (MSIL) has been a poor performer on Global NCAP standards and has criticised the organisation’s assessment even though it maintains that safety is a top priority for Maruti Suzuki. MSIL has its own testing lab in Rohtak, Haryana.

What are the rating standards?

Organisations like Global NCAP and other regulatory bodies like Euro NCAP, ASEAN NCAP and Japan NCAP rate cars on a scale of zero to five.

They evaluate adult occupant and child occupant protection. Some of them also incorporate pedestrian protection and also have requirements for electronic stability control.

Every NCAP has its own set of protocols for testing. The Euro NCAP for example conducts full frontal, front offset, side impact and side pole tests, while the Global NCAP only conducts front offset crash tests that simulate head-on collisions only, with the test car being driven at 64 km per hour.

Note that a car that performs poorly on the NCAP assessment may still be eligible for sale as it meets all the regulatory requirements in the country where it is being sold. NCAP often has more superior standards for star rating eligibility than what minimum regulatory requirements stipulate.

However, the NCAP has been instrumental in accelerating the Indian automotive industry’s commitment to safer cars.