India’s biggest car manufacturer, Maruti Suzuki, said that it will no longer send its cars to the Global New Car Assessment Programme (NCAP). The Global NCAP is the platform UK based charity which serves as the platform for the co-operation among the new car assessment programs globally and endorses the universal adoption of the United Nation’s most important motor vehicle safety standards worldwide.
As per the reports, Maruti Suzuki India Limited’s C V Raman who is the Senior Executive Director of Engineering had said that the company follows the safety regulations put by the government of India, including the newly mandated pedestrian protection and side-impact norms. Raman also said that all the policies introduced or which will be introduced by the government of India will be followed and strictly implemented by the company, however, its “cars will not go to any other agency”.
Talking of other Indian automobile manufacturers like Tata and Mahindra, their Altroz and XUV300, respectively, were given a 5-star rating by the Global NCAP in a crash test simulation. They are now the first Indian manufactured cars to receive the 5-star safety rating from Global NCAP.
Global NCAP’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and President, David Ward urged all the other automobile manufacturers to build 5-star rating cars in India.
In India, the Global NCAP crash test is not mandatory for the vehicles to be driven on the Indian roads, currently, the cars that are being sold in India must feature driver airbag, ABS with EBD, rear parking sensor, and seat belt reminder function for the front as standard.
The government of India has proposed a safety rating test of their own which will be called the Bharat New Vehicle Safety Assessment Program under which, the cars sold in India will be given star rating according to their performance in the safety of the passengers and the pedestrians.