[volkman10]

Here are some details of the upcoming Crash test facility coming up at ARAI, including eligibility assessment of Electric and Hybrid electric vehicles under FAME India Scheme.

NEW_522201534026PMARAI_Update_Index-Issue_14-15.pdf

[RavenAvi]

The Gauhati High Court has passed an interim order, directed at the Central government, not to permit car manufacturers to launch and sell small-sized four wheelers (under 1500 kg) and quadricycles without subjecting them to a mandatory crash test and an emissions test.

The Gauhati high court order, delivered by Chief Justice (acting) K Sreedhar Rao and Justice PK Saikia, not only raises the safety and emission requirements for quadricycles but also covers all four-wheeler vehicles- both passenger and goods - with a mass up to 1,500kg. "It is the contention of the petitioners that the small passenger cars produced by the manufacturers in India do not conform to the safety standards," said the order.

Referring to the European New Car Assessment Programme (ENCAP) test conducted on Indian vehicles late last year, the order said: "The requirement of air bags and the sturdy frontal body are said to be primary conditions for safety of the driver and other inmates in the vehicle.

However, in the test conducted by the ENCAP in November 2014, it is said that all small cars - four-wheelers in particular - of the M1 and N1 categories sold in India have not passed the crash-test and do not conform to the standard of emission test."

The order says that since the quadricycle is "also a motor vehicle coming within the definition of M1 category," the emission norms applicable to the M1 category should have been made applicable to it and not the norms relating to two-wheelers and three-wheelers.

The M1 category comprises passenger vehicles with not more than eight seats in addition to the driver's seat whereas N1 covers goods vehicles having a maximum mass of 3.5 tonnes. Quadricycles are lightweight four-wheel vehicles meant for intra-city travel.

The order is in response to two PILs filed by Mukesh Agarwal and Rita Das Mazumdar.

ET

[Aaron:)]

Originally Posted by RavenAvi

The Gauhati High Court has passed an interim order, directed at the Central government, not to permit car manufacturers to launch and sell small-sized four wheelers (under 1500 kg) and quadricycles without subjecting them to a mandatory crash test and an emissions test.

ET

That's strange. I don't see the point of subjecting only cars under 1500 kg to the crash tests. What about cars like the Scorpio/Safari which weigh well over the prescribed kerb weight? Heck, a Camry weighs more than 1500 kg!

[soulturbo]

The DTOs(District Trasport Officers) of Assam has issued Office Orders to all the delears instructing them NOT to sell M1 category of vehicles until further orders (Cpoy enclosed) . But prospective customers like me are in a big fix. As the vehicles booked have been lying at the delear's warehouse and one cannot take delivery. Is this situation prevailing all over India? Please advice.

[honeybee]

I think this is a clarion call to the manufacturers to start building better cars instead of meekly stating they are following all existing legislation. I am wondering what would happen if a similar decision were to be made by another high court in another state.

[nareshov]

http://auto.economictimes.indiatimes...sales/48550751

Small cars like Alto, Swift, Eon, Jazz fail to pass crash test, Assam bans their launch, sales
The sale and registration of models such as Maruti Suzuki’s Alto and Swift, Hyundai i10 and EON and Honda Jazz have been stopped in Assam.

Nice to see that Assam state government cares for its people. But there are some such as @soulturbo who might be stuck in a limbo. I hope their concerns are well addressed.

[aniketi]

Some good news for Indian car buyers, finally ! This is indeed needed for a buyer, he should know what a car scores in the crash test he intends to buy. It can give better idea to buyer about how safe car is he is willing to buy. Great move indeed. Its late I know, but better late than never
"Crash test to be Mandatory for cars in India from October 2017"

In a move aimed at making roads safer for people, the government has decided to introduce stringent safety norms under which all new cars will have to undergo mandatory crash tests from October 2017.

"The government is finally enforcing stringent crash test norms to be mandatory for all new cars from October 2017, while for upgrades of existing models, the deadline will be from October 2018," secretary, ministry of heavy industries, Rajan Katoch said on Tuesday. "New minimum safety norms, including frontal and side crash tests, will apply to all cars — entry level, small and cheaper models. As per the new order, cars would be tested for frontal crash norms at 56 kmph, while for the side crash test, it will be at 50 kmph," Katoch said, addressing a conference on 'road safety' here.

The conference was jointly organised by the International Road Federation (IRF) and the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways. The Automotive Research Association of India has developed a comprehensive testing facility at Chakan, near Pune, to crash test the new vehicles, he said. The new test facility offers a range of crash tests like full-frontal impact, side impact and offset-frontal impact etc. From now on, all these tests can be carried out under one roof for the first time in India, he added.

Source: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/...w/49250798.cms

[sidharth_j]

It is indeed a welcome move by the Indian government to introduce mandatory crash testing for new cars and existing models. Like you say, better late than never.

However, three points immediately come to mind -

1) How will this impact insurance quotes of older cars that are NOT crash test certified? Inherently insurers might assume that the risk factor of such cars is higher thereby driving up the insurance amounts. On the other hand, a crash tested car with a good rating must have a lower insurance quote, I believe?

2) What about the impact on second hand sales. Ideally I would expect non-crash tested cars to lose their value while the depreciation would be lesser for the crash tested ones.

3) Will the crash tests be done across ALL variants of the same car sold. As we know the higher variants come with better safety features and by crash testing it would be a means of driving purchases towards the higher end models - better margins for the car manufacturer IMO.

[nkghai]

Originally Posted by JonSnow

I am not so sure of that. Domestic variants may or may not have the same structural integrity as exported ones. Only a crash test will shed light on that.

Till proven otherwise, would still give the benefit of doubt to the car maker of Suzuki's repute to not give us substandard/unsafe cars, while giving the rest of the world safe cars. That would be preposterous.

[chncar]

Originally Posted by nkghai

Till proven otherwise, would still give the benefit of doubt to the car maker of Suzuki's repute to not give us substandard/unsafe cars, while giving the rest of the world safe cars. That would be preposterous.

It looks like you are not very well informed. Please take a look at the threads on Maruti's NCAP test performance for India made cars.

Given their proven track record of skimping on safety and the irresponsible and patronizing statement made by their MD, they should be guilty until proved innocent.

[hybridpetrol]

Originally Posted by chncar

It looks like you are not very well informed. Please take a look at the threads on Maruti's NCAP test performance for India made cars.

Given their proven track record of skimping on safety and the irresponsible and patronizing statement made by their MD, they should be guilty until proved innocent.

Every car model is different, and their crash worthiness can be determined, only when such cars are crash tested.
And we do not have any laws to hold them guilty, just because the MD made some ridiculous comments about safety or they have a track record before such laws are made.
Consider this: Older Ford Figo is considered solid when compared to the newer one right? Whatever NCAP rating the old Figo got, does it even matter, without crash testing the new Figo?
So, coming back to Maruti - Sure, Swift got a big zero in NCAP tests. But who can say for sure that Baleno will get the same zero, whatever is its weight reduction?
Here, Baleno is being exported to Japan, and like any other manufacturer, it is the responsibility of the manufacturer to fulfil the local safety norms of their country (or skimp on such items, if the country's laws are liberal enough)
This goes true for not just Maruti. Every manufacturer tries to take advantage of the laws being present or absent, and just stick to them, while advertising everything else as premium feature, which they are giving out because of some social responsibility.

[Lalvaz]

Originally Posted by nkghai

Till proven otherwise, would still give the benefit of doubt to the car maker of Suzuki's repute to not give us substandard/unsafe cars, while giving the rest of the world safe cars. That would be preposterous.

We can only speculate on the safety aspect in the absence of crash test reports, but I would not bet my life or that of my loved ones on speculation. You of course are free to trust Maruti Suzuki to provide a safe car to your loved ones.

If Maruti Suzuki has really made a safe Baleno for the Indian market, why don't they release the crash test reports publicly? I've walked into a Nexa showroom and offered to buy a Baleno or S cross if they share the crash test results and it shows a 5 star rating, and they refused. I wonder why!!!

[MercFan]

Wonder why always the structural integrity talks come in for a Suzuki. Are all Hyundai's, Honda's, Fords, Mahindra's, TATA's and other budget cars have an NCAP 5 rating for safety standards? I mean don't know, can anyone shed some light on that please?

Saw this in another thread:

2016 Ford Endeavour (Everest) catches fire during test drive in Australia
http://www.rushlane.com/ford-endeavo...-12176436.html

How do we interpret this now?

[VeluM]

Originally Posted by MercFan

Wonder why always the structural integrity talks come in for a Suzuki. Are all Hyundai's, Honda's, Fords, Mahindra's, TATA's and other budget cars have an NCAP 5 rating for safety standards? I mean don't know, can anyone shed some light on that please?

Mainly the Japanese/Koreans because of their constant re-definition of size zero.

We thought the India spec Swift was light, and it also fared badly in the Euro NCAP because the passenger-cell structure was found to be unsound. Now comes along the Baleno which is larger than the Swift, uses the same engines but has more equipment than the Swift, yet is significantly lighter than even the India spec Swift. While they say that the use of high-tensile steel is at the root, people have the right and good reason to speculate.

Originally Posted by MercFan

Saw this in another thread:
How do we interpret this now?

We should probably hold off the interpretations until the investigation/analysis is complete.

[trinity0114]

Originally Posted by nkghai

Till proven otherwise, would still give the benefit of doubt to the car maker of Suzuki's repute to not give us substandard/unsafe cars, while giving the rest of the world safe cars. That would be preposterous.

Car maker of Suzuki's repute? Yes Reputation of making unsafe tin cans, reputation of intentionally making lower variants of their most popular hatch without brake boosters, reputation of their chairman who says their cars are safer than 2 wheelers, reputation of objecting airbags being made compulsory. MSIL has already been exporting cars to Europe which are built in their factories here & the india spec & export spec cars are totally different when it comes to structural integrity

Originally Posted by hybridpetrol

Every car model is different, and their crash worthiness can be determined, only when such cars are crash tested.
And we do not have any laws to hold them guilty, just because the MD made some ridiculous comments about safety or they have a track record before such laws are made.
Consider this: Older Ford Figo is considered solid when compared to the newer one right? Whatever NCAP rating the old Figo got, does it even matter, without crash testing the new Figo?
So, coming back to Maruti - Sure, Swift got a big zero in NCAP tests. But who can say for sure that Baleno will get the same zero, whatever is its weight reduction?
Here, Baleno is being exported to Japan, and like any other manufacturer, it is the responsibility of the manufacturer to fulfil the local safety norms of their country (or skimp on such items, if the country's laws are liberal enough)
This goes true for not just Maruti. Every manufacturer tries to take advantage of the laws being present or absent, and just stick to them, while advertising everything else as premium feature, which they are giving out because of some social responsibility.

Yes only a proper crash test can determine how safe/unsafe a car is but how do you explain that a more feature laden, bigger car sheds so much weight despite having same engines & not using any revolutionary materials like aluminium or carbon fibre?
The swift which was being exported to Europe from India had a better structure than the one which is being sold here & most likely they will do the same thing with the export version of baleno.

Which manufacturer by taking the advantage of local laws in India has skimped on critical safety features like brakes or a car's structure? MSIL has been selling the L & V variants of the swift without brake boosters & the less said about the structural integrity of their entire portfolio the better