Bharat NCAP: How cars made in India can achieve five-star rating

Bharat New Car Assessment Programme (Bharat NCAP) is all set to start testing cars made in India and roll out safety ratings from October 1. Union Minister Nitin Gadkari recently inaugurated the Command-and-Control Centre of Bharat NCAP at the Central Institute of Road Transport (CIRT) in Pune. Bharat NCAP was launched in India last month as India's own vehicle safety rating agency. It will replace Global NCAP as the agency to crash test cars manufactured in the country from now on.

Bharat NCAP will follow the crash test norms followed by the Global NCAP. It will test cars based on several safety parameters. These include frontal, pole and side impact tests, adult and child occupant protection tests among others. The ratings will be awarded on a scale from one to five depending on the crash test result of a vehicle. Here is a quick look at how cars can achieve five-star rating under Bharat NCAP regime.

Bharat NCAP evaluation parameters:

Bharat NCAP will check scores of each cars based on safety provided for adult and child occupants as well as the safety features on offer. Recently, Nitin Gadkari said that cars will require minimum six airbags to score five-star rating at the Bharat NCAP. The Adult Occupant Protection (AOP) test will check how driver and adult passengers are impacted in case of a crash. For Child Occupant Protection (COP) tests, the key area of focus will be on ISOFIX seats as well as airbag deployment to protect minors. Bharat NCAP will also evaluate all the safety assist technologies to decide final score.

According to the agency, a car that scores a minimum of four points in AOP and nine points in COP will pass the test with one star ranking. To achieve five-star rating, a car needs to get at least 27 points and 41 points in the respective categories.

Bharat NCAP crash test types:

The crash tests a car will go through at Bharat NCAP will have three stages. The first one is the frontal impact test. In this test, a car will be crashed at a barrier at a speed of 64 kmph. The second one is the side impact test in which a car will be crashed into a barrier at a speed of 50 kmph. The third one is the pole crash test passing which is key for all cars to achieve at least three stars. The safety assist programmes included in a car will play a key role in determining the result in these tests.

According to reports, around 30 models have already been nominated by carmakers to undergo Bharat NCAP crash test. Among cars tested by Global NCAP earlier, Tata Motors and Mahindra cars have scored highest safety ratings while Maruti Suzuki and Hyundai Motor have not had similar results. Check out the 10 safest cars in India according to Global NCAP tests.