Soon India To Get Its Own Vehicle Safety Agency


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We have heard of vehicle recalls in the more developed countries and the only vehicle recalls in India where the vehicle manufacturer himself recalls the faulty vehicles. Now all that could change if a report in The Economic Times is to go by. It was reported that India will set up an agency that will have powers to recall cars suffering from engineering defects, modelled on the lines of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in the US, according to government official. The report stated that engineering defects in most new-generation cars have been on the rise in recent years, raising safety concerns and sometimes forcing manufacturers, such as Honda Siel Cars India and Maruti, to call back vehicles voluntarily. However, manufacturers have escaped government scrutiny in the absence of any legal framework. The report quoted department of heavy industries joint secretary Ambuj Sharma as saying "We are contemplating a national-level body that will govern the technical and safety aspects in the fast-growing sector that is expected to double in the next five years."

It was reported that the National Automotive Board, which will begin operations in a few months, will be a single-window authority overseeing the country's automobile industry, addressing safety issues ranging from crash-testing of yet-to-be launched models to certification of all types of vehicles. The proposed board would also look at commercial vehicles, though recalls in this segment are rare. He said "There is no legal framework to address safety and other consumer issues pertaining to vehicles manufactured and sold in India, which the National Automotive Board will try to address." In the past there have been cases where manufacturers, as in the case of Maruti 800, have re-engineered their cars sold to customers, but stopped short of calling the exercise as a "recall" in the absence of any statutory mechanism or policies. The report also mentioned that the board also would oversee critical issues of crash testing of cars, which has been delayed in the absence of proper facilities in the country. All these tests, frontal and side impact are mandatory in developed markets like Europe, Japan and the US and were supposed to be enforced in India by 2012, but have now been pushed back to beyond 2014.

http://in.lifestyle.yahoo.com/indias-vehicle-safety-agency-set-soon-031349852.html
 
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Re: India's own vehicle safety agency

The report also mentioned that the board also would oversee critical issues of crash testing of cars, which has been delayed in the absence of proper facilities in the country. All these tests, frontal and side impact are mandatory in developed markets like Europe, Japan and the US and were supposed to be enforced in India by 2012, but have now been pushed back to beyond 2014.
Hi, thanks for great info. crash tests in india is best news [thumbsup]
 
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NCAP Crash Test for All Cars in India

In the next one-and-a-half years, complete crash test of all new cars may happen in India[clap]. While a new state-of-the-art facility is being set up in Chennai for such tests, the road transport ministry has started the process of setting standards for New Car Assessment Programme (NCAP). Read More

Source: The Times of India dated 27-01-2014
Link: Soon, India to have complete crash test of all cars - The Times of India
 
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Soon, India to have complete crash test of all cars - The Economic Times

In the next one-and-a-half years, complete crash test of all new cars may happen in India. While a new state-of-the-art facility is being set up in Chennai for such tests, the road transport ministry has started the process of setting standards for New Car Assessment Programme (NCAP).
...
Recently road transport minister Oscar Fernandes had announced that his ministry has started consultation with other ministries and Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) to finalize NCAP.
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To carry out such safety tests National Automotive Testing and R&D Infrastructure Project (NATRiP) is establishing sate-of-art facility under Centre of Excellence for Passive Safety at GARC-Chennai. Two other passive safety facilities at iCAT and ARAI are also being set up.

The Chennai facility will be capable for performing frontal car to car crash, sled test, full vehicle crash test and also angular car-to-car crash. The lab will be able to perform EuroNCAP and USANCAP tests and having special equipments to measure and film crash test and some climatic control of the impact zone are required.
It is a very welcome news from the consumer and auto R&D point of view, but the move will see a lot of pushback from vested interests both in industry and beaurocracy who are more than happy with high volumes and high profits at the cost of safety. I hope government goes out of the way to implement stringent measures which will no doubt give motorists in India a greater value and safer ride, and moreover spur innovation and indigenisation of safety equipment manufacture in India. Imagine if airbags and ABS are made compulsory just like seat belts, the automakers will be forced to develop and manufacture these components in India to save costs, instead of having to import them as they do currently.
 
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This was long overdue.Even Latin America with less than our population has the Latin NCAP.It won't stop people from buying cars without safety features,but will go a long way in making people to look up and think about valuing safety.
 
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While the cogs in the government machinery slowly turn and Indian auto-buyers await the establishment of a crash test agency of our own, the organization called "Global NCAP" have announced that they will release crash test results of some of the most popular cars on 31st January 2014. Let's see if there are some pleasant and not-so pleasant surprises spring up [clap]

globalncap

Global NCAP will release the first-ever independent crash test results for some of India’s popular and important cars on 31 January 2014 at the Emerging Market Automobile Safety Conference in Delhi.
 
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Maruti,Tata,Mahindra beware you have to withdraw majority of your models and re introduce it with a bigger price tag.
Because you people care less on safety and spend less for safety.
Good move from the GOVT side.
 
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I think withdrawal of unsafe drivers would be more effective. A good driver should be able to assess his cars limitations which 99% do not hence injuries and fatalities.
 
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Indian NCAP.. Time to wake manufacturers to give respect to Indians

It has always been that Indian cars have been made poorly made, sometimes shabbily. But the logic behind this as explained by manufacturers is, we make cars cheap and affordable. With ever increasing cars on road, roads not increasing in length or width, with thousand obstacles, lack of road discipline, and short fuses of drivers, accidents are just waiting to happen at every corner every second.

We need to realize that safety features are essential. And by that I not only mean essentials like airbags or ABS or others. What I mean is crumple zones, better quality of metal, solid frames.

I think it is a welcome move by govt to induce NCAP tests for cars made in India. It is required. One example, the i10 is made in India for most international markets. In europe i10 has a 4star rating, but when the i10 car made for india was tested, it was rather very very bad. Hence an example of quality reduction to make cars more competitive on pricing. HUMAN LIVES!! - who cares [frustration][frustration]

More details here : Made-in-India cars crash tested for the first time | NDTV.com
 

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