Global NCAP Requests Indian Carmakers to Adopt UN Car Safety Standards

After the interim order of the Guwahati High Court to ban small cars in Assam, Global NCAP has requested Indian carmakers to adopt United Nations safety standards for front and side impact from January 1, 2015. In a letter to the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), the global crash-test safety agency has suggested automakers to take voluntary initiative on car safety instead of waiting for the Indian government's new occupant protection regulations under Bharat New Vehicle Safety Assessment Programme (BNVSAP). David Ward, secretary general of Global NCAP writes, "In the wake of the recent Assam Interim Court Order banning the sale of small four-wheelers that fail international crash tests, and ahead of the new occupant protection regulations being applied by the Indian Government from October 2017, Global NCAP respectfully encourages SIAM to take its own voluntary initiative on car safety." Speaking on this matter Ward said that the Indian automotive industry is where European countries were 20 years back in terms of safety. He further said that it's not really tough for Indian automakers to match global safety standards since several carmarkes are already producing vehicles here for global markets. Currently cars in India need to pass only the front crash test aka steering impact test, and stricter front offset crash tests under BNVSAP will only begin from October, 2017 onwards.   NDTV