Whether the Global NCAP, an independent charity registered
in the United Kingdom, trashes Indian cars for being unsafe, the fact is that
all cars manufactured in India adhere to the safety standards set by the
government of India.
But the Indian government is taking steps towards
harmonisation of national regulations of safety standards for passenger cars
with UN-ECE regulations. The Ministry of Road Transport & Highways has
formed a dedicated panel for introducing safety features in new vehicles under
‘Bharat New Vehicle Safety Assessment Programme’ which will be voluntary from
October 2017 and mandatory by October 2020.
This information was given by Minister of State in the
Ministry of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises, G.M. Siddeshwara in a
written reply in Lok Sabha on December 16, 2014.
The Minister, however, noted that there is a provision under
rule 126 of Central Motor Vehicle Rules, 1989(CMVR) that every manufacturer of
motor vehicles other than trailers and semi-trailers requires to submit the
prototype of the vehicle to be manufactured by him for test by any of the
agencies specified therein for granting a certificate to the compliance of the
provisions of the Central Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 and Central Motor Vehicle
Rules, 1989.
He noted that Rule 126A of CMVR requires the test agencies,
referred to in Rule 126, to also conduct tests on vehicles drawn from the
production line of the manufacturer to verify whether these vehicles conform to
the provisions of rules made under Section 110 of the Motor Vehicle Act, 1988.
Enforcement of provisions of CMV Act and CMV Rules comes under the purview of
the state Governments/UTs. All car
companies are adhering to these standards in cars manufactured by them, the
Minister said, adding that there has as such no specific study that has been
conducted to evaluate deaths in car accidents due to faulty car design.
It may be recalled that early December 2014, Minister of
State for Road Transport and Highways Pon. Radhakrishnan had informed the Rajya
Sabha that the Government was planning to mandate the offset frontal crash test
and side impact crash test norms for passenger cars. The Minister said that for
this, requisite test facilities are being built under National Automotive
Testing and Research and Development Infrastructure Project (NATRIP)
initiative. Once these facilities are ready, the regulations will be
implemented. To meet these regulations, majority of car manufacturers will
require to use several safety devices, including air bags, he had mentioned.
The Society of Indian Automobile Manufactures (SIAM) are the
members of the Standing Committee on the Central Motor Vehicles Rules, which
decides the implementation issues. Automobile manufacturers provide their
viewpoints from time to time in this forum along with other stakeholders.