Before we start, let’s first try and understand what the NCAP stands for. NCAP is the abbreviation for the “New Car Assessment Program” and this is a program started by the  United States National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in 1979. The objective of this program was to promote consumer awareness on the safety of various automobiles and thereby encourage manufacturers to produce safer cars. Subsequently, the NCAP went on to standardize vehicle safety testing protocols, and the very first crash test was the 35mph front collision test.
Subsequently, other countries took up similar programs for their domestic markets, and recently in 2017, India has decided to implement the NCAP program titled the Bharat New Vehicle Safety Assessment Program – BNVSAP The BNVSAP follows protocols similar to the Euro NCAP and is being administered by the ARAI from 2017 onwards.
Under this initative, the government has made it mandatory to testÂ
- Frontal offset impact
- Side impact
- Pedestrian safety
- Rear impactÂ
- Child dummy dynamic crash testing
This should be of much importance to us in India as we have a high number of road fatalities when compared to Europe. In-fact the number of fatal road accidents in India is almost five times the figure in the EU and this can be tackled partly by ensuring passive and active safety in the cars.
As new car buyers, this helps you evaluate the safety measure that your car provides you. Most importantly this also lets you compare the cars that you get in India vs the same variants available in other countries. Especially in a price-sensitive market like India, the BNVSAP will allow customers to make much more informed decisions – after all, Human Life is priceless. Should we compromise the lives of ourselves and our family for a couple of thousands?
Â
Â
Â
