In a much awaited move by the government, crash tests of new vehicles will be made compulsory from October 1, 2017 in India. A Minister of State in the Ministry of Heavy Industries and Public Enterprises has even said that all test facilities for conducting these crash tests should be ready without fail by December next year.
A declaration like this in the Lok Sabha is worth an applaud and we seriously would urge the government and all those involved to adhere to the timelines set!
The first seeds of making vehicle safety a prime concern were sown towards the end of the Manmohan Singh’s government when a committee was set up by Ministry of Road Transport and Highway, to create a body in India much like the NCAP in European Union, back in March 2014.
As per a report in Economic Times, existing cars will also have to satisfy mandatory crash safety norms as per crash standards AIS 098 and AIS 099. Existing vehicles though get a longer lifeline as they will go through a mandatory test only from October 1, 2019.
The issue of vehicle safety has been on a backseat in India and customers have often been found to ignore safety in order to save a few bucks. Global NCAP even gave a presentation earlier this year where they showcased that some of the cars manufactured in India does not meet safety norms.
Among others, Datsun Go emerged as the winner of the most criticized car. The Chief of GNCAP is even thinking of taking the issue up with Japanese PM. Cars by various other manufacturers were also tested and many of them failed to get a satisfactory score.
