Star Rating System For Cars On Safety Parameters

India will soon have its own ‘star rating’ regime for cars on the safety parameters which will help people to make an informed decision while buying.

A system is being proposed for star rating of the vehicle based on the standards and protocol, to improve upon the safety of the vehicle and this will enable the purchaser of the vehicle to take informed decisions, Union Road Transport Minister Nitin Gadkari said.

Elaborating on other safety systems under implementation Gadkari spoke about electronic stability control, advanced emergency braking systems (AEBS), transport of dangerous goods, ease of mobility for divyangjan, driver drowsiness attention warning system (DDAW), blind spot information system, advanced driver assistance system and lane departure warning system (LDWS), which will be introduced to make vehicles safer for occupants and also for other road users.

The Indian version of star rating will not only take into account safety of the occupants, but also pedestrians and other road users.

He added that the Road Transport Ministry will make it mandatory for all cars to have six airbags and the car-makers will have to provide three-point seat belts for all front-facing passengers in a car.

October this year has been proposed as the timeline for implementation of the two provisions. However, industry sources said it would take more time for compliance.

Currently, global new car assessment programme (G-NCAP) gives star ratings to Indian cars after carrying out crash tests and this has become popular in the past six-seven years. India will have an improved version of the safety assessment programme than the G-NCAP and the government plans to publish the test results of all models of vehicles to create awareness among buyers.

“Nothing works better than competition. The carmakers will go for this if they want to remain in competition in the market. The aim of all these is to save lives. We lose 1.5 lakh lives every year,” Gadkari said.

Emphasising on the importance of reducing sound pollution and use of electric vehicles, Gadkari said the need of the hour is to create mass awareness for road safety measures by information dissemination through media and people's participation.

According to the ministry, the detailed protocols would be finalised in the next few months so that the necessary framework to implement this can start quickly. Taking a cue from the global practices, the star rating is likely to be voluntary for carmakers.