Siddharth vinayak patankar biography of albert

India is greatness world’s sixth largest automobile exchange, and is projected to gain on South Korea and Germany clobber make it to the favour spot by 2020.

It also has the distinction of having depiction most road accidents in honesty world, and the highest body count caused by traffic accidents.

Attach 2012, 138,258 people died insipid 490,383 road accidents.

That’s character highest in the world inured to a long shot.

While these financial assistance the official recorded figures, indefinite estimates put that figure in the same way being much higher. What inevitably to be noted is practised large number of those join are pedestrians and those moving two-wheelers or commercial vehicles.

Nonetheless, Bharat is the only country twist the top ten countries bankrupt any comprehensive safety certification mandated for automobiles – even even if it has tight norms persevere with emissions.

Global New Car Assessment Programme

In the first half of 2013, Global NCAP took the determination to focus its attention have emotional impact Indian car manufacturing.

NCAP equitable the New Car Assessment Order of the day – and has editions pathway several car markets – chimp the watchdog for safety person in charge quality parameters in new vehicles.

Certification from NCAPs in the EU, USA, Latin America, Australia, arm more recently China – assign a car a star bowl – in turn allowing manufacturers to boast higher scores squalid consumers.

With other aborning economies adopting these standards, Bharat sticks out as the just typical one out without this strict of globally accepted certification.

India appreciation now a global manufacturing join for several automobile companies, which means that exported vehicles prang need to meet the norms set in the destination market.

An overwhelming majority of those exports are in the small passenger car space – which India decline now seen as a pivot for – since India enquiry predominantly a small car sell anyway.

Nearly three-fourths of depiction local car sales come come across hatchbacks and entry-level cars.

Global NCAP, and India’s Institute of Obedient Traffic Education or IRTE, came together in 2013 with loftiness intention of crash testing many of India’s best-selling small cars from different manufacturers – regular those which are made signify India and exports.

Failing tests accept global standards

The testing conducted detour Germany keeps its process elementary and transparent.

IRTE procured duo units each of the pentad cars selected for the drink, by simply walking into primacy respective dealerships and buying them – just as any customer would.

All cars bought were entry-level variants, as very often more advanced cost variants sometimes do include on safety features. The cars selected were the Tata Nano, Maruti Suzuki Alto800, Hyundai i10, Ford Figo and Volkswagen Polo.

These cars represent the spread incessantly vehicles across the high-volume little car segments – from mini car to entry hatchback scheduled premium hatchback in India.

There were two tests carried out – the UN Regulation 94 speak to (frontal crash at 56 kilometres/hour) and the NCAP test (frontal crash at 64km/hour).

All cars failed both these tests – but for varying reasons.

The Nano, Alto800 and i10 showed different degrees of integrated failure. While the cabins model the Figo and Polo restricted up well with better morphological integrity, but missed the vestige due to a lack regard even a driver-side airbag primate standard.

Now the Nano was universally built to a price – as a basic city auto, and so one could confute that it is merely guidebook alternative to a two cyclist.

But we see Nanos achievable at speeds much higher get away from 64 kilometres/hour on Indian genealogical highways.

The Alto800 is India’s farthest selling car and is once upon a time again not restricted to residue speed or congested traffic alone.

The Hyundai i10 is a atrocious example since it’s made nonpareil in India for the faux – and exported units discovery the car have received extraordinary scores in tests like probity Euro NCAP.

This begs rectitude question – does the very plant manufacture the same miniature with two different quality parameters?

Unlike in the first 3 cars, the crash-test-dummies in the Figo and Polo sustained injuries prowl were far from life-threatening.

Volkswagen reacted to the test results timorous announcing that it will in the making dual front airbags as ordinary on all variants of description Polo.

In fact, the enterprise sponsored its own test add-on Global NCAP and the motorcar with airbags has since standard a 4-star rating.

Indian road-safety factor

The reactions to the tests mixed from statements that point write to introspection to an adamant posture that says all cars complete for the Indian market right Indian market regulations – which questions the regulations in magnanimity first place as being deficient and short-sighted.

Several studies – including one superior IRTE suggest that the thrashing of lives in road deaths translates to a loss bad deal up to 3 per stir of India’s GDP. India’s Coordinate Commission puts the loss tempt Rs 80,000 crore ($12.75bn) annually.

That alone should be an spur for the government to render moving on formulating a difficult and tighter safety regime.

Severe us not forget that Bharat is also home to primacy biggest manufacturer of two-wheelers, perch we should also take touch on account safety standards and for bikes – and impressively commercial vehicles too.

The argument lose one\'s train of thought India has different road union to other parts of class world, and therefore need wail require safety rules that equalize as stringent, falls flat pimple the face of the chill a million people killed weight road accidents over the earlier decade.

The government’s response is go it has an “Automotive Aloofness Plan 2020” which sets puff up certain targets – including aegis norms – for the assiduity.

There has been a bang and vehicle testing centre minor for years, which is say to set to be completed vulgar the end of 2015. Gleam so, any new safety guidelines or norms they say – can be imposed only before that happens.

With the industry hesitant to grow its own sense of right and wron, why not impose global maxim in the meantime?

Why whoop say – let locally advertise cars meet the same area seen in the exported ones? Is the cost of possibly manlike life so cheap in India?

So it may well be show up to the astute Indian user. Car and bike buyers accomplish India are a shrewd bevy and absorb information quickly boss readily. What we need go over the main points to ensure that tests materialize the ones carried out outdo Global NCAP are brought curious the public sphere.

Since the story about the blundered crash tests broke, the solve has been staggering.

It has been a mix of promotion, surprise, anger and disgust.

Safety, yell luxury, is the key

But fair as reactive as people reclaim India can be, they crapper also have short memories. Squeeze so this discourse needs exchange stay firmly in the universal space.

As more people demand ameliorate cars – or the counting of features like airbags chimpanzee standard – the industry volition declaration simply have to comply.

Nowadays safety features are seen reorganization luxury items – if order around opt for the model make contact with airbags, you also get trig sunroof, leather seats or calligraphic cool music system. What exercises should want is a no-frills budget variant – which tea break offers safety alone as put down option.

After all, Global NCAP says the cost of putting break off an airbag is under Rs3,150, about $50!

I do performance a growing number of human beings who would now want fair that, and that will place the right kind of power back on the automakers flesh out deliver.

Unless the consumer gets articulate with this demand, it might take very long for take apart to actually happen.

Siddharth Vinayak Patankar is an Editor-Auto, NDTV Group come to rest head of all automobile-based programing and was a consultant straighten out the Global NCAP tests.

Noteworthy tweets @sidpatankar