Minister of Roads and Highways Nitin Gadkari told Rajya Sabha that the Bharat New Vehicle Safety Assessment Program, also known as Bharat NCAP, has already been notified by his ministry.
Asked by Congressman KTS Tulsi about the safety standards in vehicle manufacturing as the number of vehicle accident fatalities in the country has increased, Gadkari said that the major automakers around the world have the safety standards and this is the need of the hour in India as well.
“Every year over 5,000 accidents occur in India with over 1.5,000 fatalities in these accidents. That’s why we made a decision and made six airbags mandatory for all cars,” he said. Gadkarihad recently confirmed that all new cars manufactured from October 1, 2022 will be equipped with six airbags.
The minister also said that mandatory airbags are very important from the point of view of road safety and that is why we made them mandatory for all cars, including economy models.
Citing the number of traffic accidents, he said that a total of 25,289 accidents happened in 2020, of which 30 percent of lives could have been saved by the airbags in the event of a frontal collision, while 31 percent of lives could have been saved by the deployment of Side airbags were saved in a side impact.
He also said that under the Bharat NCAP, the structural safety of the vehicle, the adult occupants, the rigidity of the vehicle structure, the safety of child occupants in crash tests, the evaluation of the car from the pedestrian safety point of view and the hood design, the active safety assistance technology , six airbag standards, 3.5 seat belts and a seat belt warning system were added as new features.
“We want to protect people’s lives and for this reason we will also introduce the ‘rating system’ for the manufacturing companies. This will create more job opportunities in the vehicle manufacturing sector and also boost exports,” Gadkari said.
The Bharat NCAP stipulates that the cars sold in the country are given star ratings based on their safety performance. It will be implemented in phases according to the plans produced by the National Automotive Testing and R&D Infrastructure Project.
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