Unsafe vehicles

Time for India to update car safety regulations

The Global New Car Assessment Programme, or Global NCAP, which carries out tests on the safety of motor vehicles, has said that five Indian cars are unsafe for passengers: Maruti Suzuki's Celerio and Eeco, Hyundai's Eon, Mahindra & Mahindra's Scorpio and Renault's Kwid. All the cars were assigned zero stars by Global NCAP for adult safety, though each got one or two stars (out of five) for child safety. Apart from faulty body structure, most didn't have airbags, which made them unsafe for occupants - though one variant of the Kwid which had an airbag for the driver too scored zero on adult safety. However, the Toyota Etios, with two airbags, got four stars for adult safety. Clearly, these cars need to be fitted with at least two airbags to render them safe.

Some of the affected companies have said that such a result was bound to happen because these models had no airbags. Mahindra & Mahindra said that 75 per cent of the buyers of the Scorpio prefer the variant with airbags. But that a large number of cars without airbags are out on the roads cannot be denied, which is a safety hazard. Companies sell cars without airbags in order to lower their price tags, given that India is a highly price-sensitive market. But this is hardly an excuse to compromise on safety. Besides, a majority of the cars in India are bought on instalments, so the cost of the airbags will not cause a great burden on the buyers. The time has come for the government to update regulations, and make airbags mandatory. India, in the last few years, has emerged as a hub for car exports. Cars made here are sold across the world, including in the quality-conscious markets of the West. If companies can sell successfully there, they can surely make safe cars for the country as well. It is not a question of capability, but one of regulation.

The findings of Global NCAP, though decried as scaremongering by the affected companies which may have to invest more money to make their cars safer, reflect a legacy problem in India: one of lack of consumer awareness and government inaction. India, though it is one of the largest markets in the world with a very high incidence of fatal road accidents, does not have crash test standards, which means that companies do not have any incentive to incorporate features like airbags in their cars. The government has put in place some norms for crash tests but these will come into effect only in 2017 for new cars; for old cars, the deadline is 2019. Also in the works is the Bharat New Vehicle Safety Assessment Programme, which too will assign star ratings to cars, but that is likely to come into effect only in 2018. But just instituting local tests should not mean that regulations can stay the same, either. Those too must be updated.