Tata's New Harrier And Safari Become The First Recipients Of Bharat-NCAP 5-Star Rating

Tata Motors' flagship SUV, the new Safari and the premium SUV, Harrier, have become the first recipients of the highest achievable 5-star rating, as per the Bharat New Car Assessment Programme (Bharat-NCAP).

Launched in August 2023, the Bharat NCAP is India’s very own and independent safety performance evaluation protocol. This indigenous star-rating system assigns vehicles between one to five stars indicating their safety level in the event of a collision.

The objective of the programme is to provide customers with a credible, objective score to evaluate the safety aspects of various vehicles. This will empower them to make well-informed decisions when purchasing a car, ultimately driving demand for safer vehicles.

Till now Indian car manufacturers have been taking their products abroad for testing as per the Global New Car Assessment Programme (Global NCAP), which is a project of the UK-based NGO, Towards Zero Foundation.

Even though Bharat NCAP was officially implemented on 1 October, the tests began in December. Noteworthy is the fact that Tata Motors is the first company to seek the BNCAP rating.

The BNCAP rating will evaluate vehicles based on three parameters — adult occupant protection, child occupant protection, and safety assist technologies. The Ministry of Road Transport has designated the Central Institute of Road Transport (CIRT) in Pune as the nodal entity for the Bharat NCAP.

Shailesh Chandra, MD, Tata Motors Passenger Vehicles Ltd and Tata Passenger Electric Mobility Ltd, said, “At Tata Motors, safety is at the core of our DNA and we are honoured to win this maiden Bharat-NCAP certification with an exemplary 5-star rating for two of our vehicles. We remain committed and will continue to work towards improving vehicle safety holistically.”

Built on the OMEGARC architecture, short for Optimal Modular Efficient Global Architecture, which is an adaptation of the Land Rover’s renowned D8 Platform, (Tata Motors had acquired JLR in 2008), the Safari and Harrier SUVs also come with the highest 5-star GNCAP rating and are truly the safest vehicles on Indian roads, the company said.

Both certified vehicles come equipped with a range of safety features, including seven airbags, with six as a standard feature across all personas. Additionally, they feature 3-point seatbelts in all rows, seat belt reminders for all passengers, and a reinforced cabin structure designed to enhance symmetric crash performance and side pole impact protection.