With the Government of India's Bharat New Car Assessment Programme (BNCAP) completing its first round of crash testing, Indian customers will soon be able to make an informed purchase decision. The crash test results are expected to be out by this week or before December end.
While testing agencies have already submitted their evaluations, the formal process of assigning ratings from 1-5 will be formally announced by the Central Institute of Road Transport (CIRT) Pune, which is the programme manager for the car assessment plan.
- CIRT is the programme manager for Bharat NCAP
- Hyundai, Kia, Maruti have submitted cars for tests
- Bharat NCAP to test ICE, CNG and EVs
Bharat NCAP results
Mahmood Ahmed, additional secretary, Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, told our sister publication Autocar Professional that “government's BNCAP programme is on track. We are hoping to share the results as soon as possible, which could be this week or before the end of the year.”
According to Autocar Professional, senior government officials are considering holding a mega event at which Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari and Bharat NCAP officials will likely announce the ratings. However, the plan is currently being debated, which explains why the ratings are yet to be announced on the BNCAP website.
Prominent manufacturers that submitted their models for the first round of crash tests include Hyundai, Kia, Maruti Suzuki, Mahindra and Toyota. Bharat NCAP is a voluntary programme which tests the base variant of each car.
Bharat NCAP testing process
As part of the test regimen, Bharat NCAP conducts Adult Occupant Protection (AOP) and Child Occupant Protection (COP) on vehicles weighing up to 3,500kg (3.5 tonnes), and gives them a safety rating between zero and five. These vehicles are picked at random by Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI) and International Centre for Automotive Technology (ICAT) from authorised dealerships.
Unlike Global NCAP, which assigns separate ratings to adults and children, Bharat NCAP tests assign a unified rating from 0 to 5 stars. The crash test ratings of Bharat NCAP will apply to vehicles holding type approval, spanning across models with a seating capacity of up to eight, including the driver.
Government officials went on to say that the testing regime includes evaluating and rating CNG, electric, and internal combustion engine vehicles. According to the guidelines, the testing agencies will conduct the frontal impact test at 64kph, the side impact test at 50kph and the pole side-impact test at 29kph.
Bharat NCAP tests were supposed to begin on October 15th but were pushed back to December 15th due to the busy holiday season. During the programme's launch, Gadkari had stated that over 30 models have already been nominated for testing, and added that a BNCAP test will cost Rs 60 lakh as opposed to overseas tests, which cost roughly Rs 2.50 crore.
Also See:
Bharat NCAP and Global NCAP: differences and similarities explained
Opinion: With Bharat NCAP out, it’s time for a road safety rating
