Indian Cars To Get As SAFE As Foreign Counterparts?

Indian automotive market is one of the biggest in the world. However, the Indian audience is often offered with products that boast of poor crash test ratings in comparison to their international-spec counterparts. Recently, it was observed that India-spec Renault Kwid scored a 1-star crash test rating at the Global-NCAP’s testbed, whereas the South African model scored a 2-star crash test rating. A similar fashion was observed with the Maruti S-Presso as well. Yes! It is indeed disheartening to see how carmakers discriminate the Indian market from some international markets. Addressing this issue, MoRTH Seceratery – Girish Aramane condemned this practice of the carmakers during a seminar.

Girish Aramane quoted, “I am deeply perturbed by some news items that Indian models are purposefully downgraded by auto manufacturers' safety standards in India. This practice needs to be stopped. Some auto manufacturers could not spare any efforts in offering the best quality vehicle in India, and it is unpardonable that few of them are downgrading to sell in India. Also, I am very disturbed by the fact that very few have adopted the safety rating system which is used by very few manufacturers for their high-end models.”

Girish Aramane said during the seminar, which was organized by SIAM on implementation of vehicle location tracking devices in order to enhance the safety on road. Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) has been working constantly to make the road journeys a safer bet. The ministry first made amendments in the Automotive Industry Standards to mandate fitment of front airbags, ABS with EBD, and reverse parking sensors in all the vehicles. However, carmakers are often seen cutting short on the equipment in the lower trim levels to price them aggressively.

With these words from the Secretary of Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, we can now expect India-spec vehicles to offer identical safety and quality standards as their international twins. Also, the governing bodies might introduce another amendment in the Automotive Industry Standards to roll-out strict guidelines to ensure better safety and quality standards in vehicles that are sold in the Indian market.