Global NCAP to Publish Results of India's First Independent Crash Tests

LONDON, January 17, 2014 /PRNewswire/ --

Independent consumer crash test results for some of India's popular and important small cars will be presented for the first time on Friday 31 January by Global NCAP and the Institute of Road Traffic Education at a conference in Delhi.

Global NCAP President Max Mosley said: "Indian car buyers are entitled to know about the different safety performance of the cars on sale in their market. Alongside other measures, such as better enforcement, driver behavior and road design, action is needed to improve passenger car safety in India which will over time help to reduce road injury levels."

The results will be presented to a gathering of government and industry at the 2014 Emerging Market Automobile Safety Conference being held at the College of Road Traffic Management, Faridabad in the NCR Delhi. Supported by the World Bank's Global Road Safety Facility, the Road Safety Fund, Underwriters Laboratories and Denso, the conference will also feature representatives of Euro NCAP, Latin NCAP, Australasia NCAP and ASEAN NCAP speaking about the role of crash testing in improving road safety in other regions.

India ranks sixth largest in the world for the production and sale of passenger cars and could become the world's third largest market by 2020. The export share of the country's passenger car production has risen over the last ten years from 10% to 21% and it is emerging as an important global hub for small car production.

Unlike most other major car producing nations, India does not yet require its vehicles to meet the United Nation's minimum crash test standards - UN Reg. 94 for occupant protection in frontal collision and Reg. 95 for occupant protection in lateral collision - and does not have a New Car Assessment Programme (NCAP) that can provide consumers with independent reports on vehicles' crash safety.

The UN's Decade of Action for Road Safety recommends governments apply minimum crash standards and create NCAPs. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon says: "New car assessment programmes (NCAPs) in a number of countries and regions have proved to be very effective in creating a market that encourages consumers to choose vehicles based on their safety ratings."

Of the 1.24 million people who lose their lives each year on the world's roads, more than one in ten is an Indian. Annually India suffers around 140,000 road traffic fatalities, accounting for 11.3% of the total.

Rohit Baluja, President of India's Institute of Road Traffic Education (IRTE), said: "Consumers today are disillusioned with all the other offers made by automobile dealers to sell cars. Safety, which should be the most important aspect, is hardly emphasized as a factor for consideration. This will be the first time that independent information on safety based upon consumer crash tests will be available for India. Some of the results may shock Indian consumers, but when people go to buy a vehicle they should be informed of what they are buying: whether the car meets basic safety standards and its crash protection rating."

Further information

For more information on Global NCAP and the conference, please visit: http://www.globalncap.org

Download the conference brochure here: http://bit.ly/1deaXnZ

Press accreditation at the conference

If you would like to attend the conference in Delhi to report on the results of India's first independent crash tests, please contact: [email protected]

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SOURCE Global NCAP