As part of plans to make vehicles safer, India will soon get seven vehicle testing facilities including crash testing labs next year. Built at a cost of Rs 3,700 crore, the facilities will come up in Manesar, Bengaluru, Rai Bareli, Silchar, Indore, Pune and Chennai. With growing awareness among car buyers and safety finally gaining its much due importance, the move is indeed a welcome change.
The facilities have been set up by National Automotive Testing and Research and Development Infrastructure Project (NATRIP). This will help in giving star ratings for vehicles based on passenger and pedestrian safety features. New models will have to mandatorily undergo frontal and side car crash tests by October 2017 and 2019 for the current models. Reports indicate that the government is also in the process of setting up the Bharat National Car Assessment Programme (B-NCAP) on the lines of Global National Car Assessment Programme which will help in introducing European car safety features mandatory in India.
For cars to be awarded with a five star rating, they will have to offer airbags, ABS and speed-warning systems as standard equipment. Given the rising number of fatal accidents in the country, the new mandatory safety parameters will help save lives. It will also help customers to make right decisions and not just be influenced by low cost pricing which has been a trend till now.
Source: ETA
