Deaths Attest to India’s Weak Car-Safety Standards

MUMBAI – Indian cars face a long road ahead before they are as safe as those sold in Europe in the U.S., and both automakers and the government face questions about their commitment to pursuing higher standards.

No reliable data are available on pedestrian and passenger deaths from car accidents, but unofficial estimates place the annual total at 300,000. Official statistics show a serious road accident occurs in India every minute, resulting in 16 road deaths per hour, or 140,000 a year. Another 160,000 pedestrians are killed.

In what likely is a highly understated number, at least 20,000 of the fatalities involve drunken driving.

India’s popular small-car models are attractive to the first-time car buyer because they are affordable, fuel-efficient and require little maintenance. But Indians are responding to the grim statistics. A recent survey indicates the share of car buyers who include safety in their purchasing criteria is 74%, up from 42% in 2013.

Four recent events have highlighted the inadequacy of India’s auto-safety standards. As a consequence, public pressure is building for upgrading and testing those criteria, and bringing Indian driving practices up to global safety levels.

A government minister riding in the rear seat without a seatbelt died in a June 2014 crash as his driver was speeding to an airport. It was early morning and traffic was thin, yet the car collided with a taxi as both drivers tried to beat each other across an intersection.

In June of this year an intoxicated Audi motorist driving on the wrong side of the road collided with a taxi late at night. The Audi driver was protected by a seatbelt and the car’s crumple zone, but two passengers in the rear seat of the taxi died. There were no seatbelts, as they are not mandatory in the rear seats in India.

Failure Across the Board

The poor safety record of Indian small cars recently was highlighted by tests conducted by the Global New Car Assessment Program (Global NCAP). The U.K.-based not-for-profit initiative devoted to highway safety focused on India because its newly emerging small-car market was growing rapidly; automakers were not charged for the tests.

To carry out the crashworthiness tests Global NCAP purchased nine small entry-level models of seven automakers directly from their dealers. The manufacturers joined the tests as observers, expecting their vehicles would pass and gain prestige at no cost.

But they got a painful surprise: All nine cars – the Tata Nano, Maruti Suzuki Alto and Swift, Hyundai  i10 and Eon, Honda Jazz, Ford Figo, Volkswagen Polo and  Datsun Go – failed the  40% offset test, in which the front portion of a test vehicle representing 40% of its width strikes a stationary object at 40 mph (64 km/h).

The automakers sought repeat tests under a United Nations protocol with a more liberal 40% offset at 35 mph (56 km/h). Only two of the nine models, the Figo and Polo, passed this test.

The automakers went on the defensive, contending neither the Global NCAP nor UN tests are prescribed in India and all the cars meet standards established by the Indian government.

“India is a major global market production center for small cars,” according to an NCAP statement. “Yet its safety standards are 20 years behind (those of the) European Union and U.S.”

NCAP added Indian cars’ structural integrity was inadequate and could cause life-threatening injuries because there is no protection from frontal and side impact. The safety organization also noted airbags provide insufficient protection without crumple zones, which are designed to absorb energy to reduce the difference between the speed of the car and of its occupants.

In July a public-interest petition was filed in the Gauhati High Court of Assam state in hilly Northeastern India to make the vehicles and roads safer. In mid-July the court issued an interim order halting the sale of 140 models of small cars “for failing to meet crash-safety norms applicable in developed markets such as Europe.”

The order was vacated late last month after the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers argued before the court that the European safety standards are not the law in India.

The industry group further contended all 140 models meet the safety norms specified by the Indian government in crashes at speeds of just 30 mph (48 km/h) owing to dense traffic. “The Indian cars are not designed or engineered for those specific (Global NCAP and UN) tests,” says I V Rao, a senior Maruti Suzuki executive.

SIAM further blamed air conditioners, music systems and other gadgets for the cars’ failure to meet the outside agencies’ safety norms and asked the Automotive Research Assn. of India to survey their use and to collect data on road conditions that affect the cars’ ability to meet the criteria.

On Indian expressways speeds can reach 75 mph (120 km/h), so the 30-mph test standard is inadequate as a measurement of crashworthiness. The capability of Indian industry was illustrated by VW and Ford when they submitted their vehicles to Global NCAP for a second round of tests. VW upgraded all its models to the safety agency’s airbag requirements. The Ford Figo, with its improved crumple zone, passed the repeat tests even without airbags.

The government in 2014 launched a Statutory Car Assessment Program but even it has limitations, such as a lack of standards for front and side impact. It requires new vehicles to meet tougher standards only after October 2017 and gives existing vehicles until October 2019.

David Ward, secretary general-Global NCAP, has said Indian automakers should not wait for 2017 and take the initiative to immediately bring their cars into compliance with the tougher standards.

India exported 622,470 vehicles in the year ending in March, according to SIAM. If industry can meet the safety standards demanded of export vehicles, it can do the same for vehicles sold locally.