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The Bharat New Car Assessment Program, also known as the Bharat NCAP, is the official New Car Assessment Program for India. It was launched by Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH), Government of India on 22 August 2023.
Cars sold in the country will be assigned by star ratings based on their safety performance. It was implemented in phases, according to the plans drawn up by the National Automotive Testing and R&D Infrastructure Project. It is the 10th NCAP in the world and was set up by the government of India.[1]The program was expected to begin mid-2014, but postponed to start from 2017. It was later scrapped until finally launching in August 2023.[2] Within two years of implementation, new cars sold in India will need to comply with voluntary star ratings based on crash safety performance tests. Crucial safety features such as airbags, ABS and seat belt reminders will become standard in cars sold in India resulting from rankings and mandatory crash testing. Offset front crash, side, and rear impact tests. Cars will gradually have to meet more stringent norms such as pedestrian protection, whiplash injury and child restraint systems standards and requirements.
The number of deaths due to road accidents in India is around three to four times that of European countries like France, Germany and Spain.[5] The Indian automotive safety standards have been criticised as being insufficient and ineffective. India has the world's sixth-largest car market, but is still the only country among the global top ten car markets without a testing program that measures the safety of vehicles.[6] It is estimated that vehicles in India will cost 8–15% more resulting from compliance with these norms. However, harmonizing India's vehicle safety standards with global standards is expected to help automakers export locally produced cars globally
History
Before the launch of Bharat NCAP, the rules and regulations related to automotive safety in India were governed by the Central Motor Vehicles rules 1989 (CMVR) – Technical Standing Committee.[7]
Preparation of new standards for automotive items related to safety.
To review and recommend amendments to the existing standards.
Recommend adoption of such standards to CMVR Technical Standing Committee.
Recommend commissioning of testing facilities at appropriate stages.
Recommend the necessary funding of such facilities to the CMVR Technical Standing Committee.
Advise CMVR Technical Standing Committee on any other issues referred to it[7]
Automotive Industry Standards Committee (AISC) is set up under Central Motor Vehicles Rules -Technical Standing Committee (CMVR - TSC) by Ministry of Road Transport & Highways, (Dept. of Road Transport & Highways) (MoRT&H (DoRT&H)) in the year 1997 to review the safety in the design, construction, operation and maintenance of motor vehicles.[8]
Automotive Industry Standards formulated by the Automobile Industry Standards Committee (AISC) is the automotive technical specification for the Indian market. It comprises specifications and requirements to be met by vehicles sold in India. Some of these requirements pertaining to vehicle safety in the event of collision are:
AIS-096 – Requirements for Behaviour of Steering Mechanism of a vehicle in a Head-on Collision[9]
AIS-097 – Procedure for determining the "H" Point and the Torso Angle for 50th percentile Adult Male in seating positions of Motor Vehicles.
AIS-098 – Requirements for the Protection of the Occupants in the event of an Offset Frontal Collision
AIS-099 – Approval of Vehicles with regards to the Protection of the Occupants in the event of a Lateral Collision
AIS-100 – Requirements for the Protection of Pedestrian and other Vulnerable Road Users in the event of a Collision with a Motor Vehicle
AIS-100 (Rev. 1) – Requirements for the Protection of Pedestrian and other Vulnerable Road Use Protocols
However, as there's no single standardised method for testing vehicle collisions nor is there any measurable statistics for consumers to know how well the vehicles protect the occupants, manufacturers simply met the basic requirements needed for Indian market.
On 31 January 2014, Global NCAP released a series of videos on YouTube crash testing some of India's best-selling car models under their "Safer cars for India" project. The cars tested were the 2014 model year Tata Nano, Ford Figo, Maruti Suzuki Alto 800, Maruti Suzuki Swift, Datsun Go, Hyundai i10 and Volkswagen Polo. The cars which were crash tested all had 0 stars for adult occupant protection (except for the Volkswagen Polo with 2 airbags which scored 4 stars for adult occupant protection)[10] and also failed the basic UN safety test. Following this revelation, several media publications and forum posts started paying attention to India's lack of testing for cars and cars in general being unsafe to drive and not suited for most auto markets.[11][12][13][14]
Many people in India started taking crash rating seriously and started demanding safer cars. The government of India started to plan a vehicle assessment program for vehicles sold in India under the new Bharat New Vehicle Safety Assessment Program (BNVSAP) around the late 2010's. Cars sold in the country will be assigned star ratings based on their safety performance. It was implemented in phases, according to the plans being drawn up by ARAI (Automotive Research Association of India) and the National Automotive Testing and R&D Infrastructure Project. The program got underway with high tech state-of-the-art facilities and laboratories being setup up across India.
With BNVSAP, a star rating system was introduced based on crash safety performance features. A car is subjected to offset front crash, side-impact and rear impacts. For the vehicle to clear these tests, it needs to have the bare essential safety systems like airbags, ABS (Anti-lock braking system), child restraint systems and seatbelt pre-tensioners. With the particular implementation of BNVSAP, Indian car manufacturers had to introduce crucial safety features with their new offerings. All existing car models sold after 1 October 2019 had to clear the prescribed BNVSAP tests.
Under BNVSAP, vehicles are crash-tested at 64km/h (40mph) for frontal impacts – which is the average speed in India.
Points can be awarded to the car based on the safety features in the car like ABS, seat belt reminders, child lock, and Electronic Stability Control. The car testing protocols are defined by ARAI and are as follows:
Frontal offset testing (64 km/h proposed)
Side-impact testing
Pedestrian protection testing
Rear impact testing
Child dummy dynamic crash testing
On 7 December 2018, Global NCAP published the crash testing of the Subcompact crossover Tata Nexon. The testing showed that it has achieved 5 stars for adult occupant protection, making it India's first indigenous produced car to get a 5 stars rating.[15] Following this, multiple brands started to develop or add features that would increase their vehicles safety rating.
In 2022, the ministry of road and transport announced that BNCAP would commence, the testing shall be done on a voluntary basis and that the star rating will be introduced. It also announced that the testing protocols will go beyond the technical specifications and that the testing will be aligned closer to global standards[16]
In August 2023, the Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways, Nitin Gadkari, launched the Bharat New Car Assessment Programme in New Delhi. Operations commenced on 1 October 2023[17] with the first testing of vehicle safety published in December of the same year for the Tata Harrier and Tata Safari,[18] both getting 5 stars for both adult and child occupant production. As of July2025[update], 20 cars have been testing with 19 of them getting a 5-stars rating (the Citroen Basalt, Compact Coupé SUV got a 4-stars rating).[19])
Protocols
BNCAP started the official testing from December 2023 onwards. The car testing protocols is defined by the Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI) as follows:
Frontal offset testing (64km/h proposed)
Side impact testing
Pedestrian protection testing
Rear impact testing
Child dummy dynamic crash testing
Points would be awarded to the car based on the safety features in the car like ABS, seat belt reminders, child lock, and Electronic Stability Control.
India has seen more road deaths per year than any other nation since 2006, costing lives at the rate of 230,000 annually. Manufacturers and vehicle safety lobbyists support the retention of the inferior frontal crash test at 56km/h (34.8mph).
NHTSA is the standards followed by the US safety standards, carry out frontal crash tests at 64.3km/h (40mph).[20] Under BNCAP, similar to Euro NCAP, vehicles will be crash tested at 64km/h for frontal impacts which is the average speed in India.[21]
Crash test facilities are being set up and are regularly updated on the official site.[22]
On 22 August 2023 the Bharat NCAP was launched by Union Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari and will commence on 1 October 2023.[26]
Owing to festivals, the program got delayed by a few months and now is due for its first set of car's result on 15 December 2023 with companies participating like Hyundai, Maruti and Tata in its first lot of cars' crash tests.[citation needed]
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