India will very soon get its own Car Safety Rating: Nitin Gadkari

The union Transport Minister, Nitin Gadkari has stated very soon, our nation, would have its own star rating system which would test the cars under varied parameters. Apart from the safety of the occupants, the new system would also gauge the safety of the pedestrians and all other vulnerable road users.

Key highlights

-Indian cars would go through the varied safety rating system, which are very similar to the NCAP

-All Seats in the Cars will receive 3-point seatbelt

-12-point changes in MV rules to add new features.

India is one of the biggest car markets in the world

There is no doubt about the above statement, but we find, each year, thousands of road users have met fatal accidents. Nitin Gadkari, the transport minister of India is set to change the trend by offering safer cars to the market and making additional safety equipment mandatory for cars.

Safety Star Rating

Nitin Gadkari would very soon introduce a new star rating regime to help gauge the safety parameters in the new cars. This new system would also test the car's ability to keep the pedestrians as well as other vulnerable road users such as 2 wheeler riders safe in the accident.

Global NCAP Tests

Presently, Global NCAP tests the Indian-spec cars, their campaign on safer cars for India has been working for more than 6 years and most cars have been able to score the maximum five-star ratings.

New safety Assessment

The new safety assessment of cars would include the

-structure of the vehicles

-safety of the adult and child occupants

-seat belt reminders

-ESC

-inbuilt safety assistance technology

-hill assist technology.

Three-point seat belts now mandatory

While three-point safety seat belts have become mandatory, for all forward-facing vehicles, the govt has not given a date on the implementation.

Presently, the middle seats of the most cars in our nation provide a lap belt-type seatbelt, we would get to see on the aircraft. These would be replaced with 3-point belts just the ones available with the front.

Six airbags

The union Transport Minister also stated that, the government is planning to make 6 airbags mandatory in our nation. Prior only two air bags were mandatory and presently the number would be increased to six. With all the additional safety equipment, the price of the budget cars would be most affected.