Friday, 7 November 2014

SIAM defends Maruti, Nissan on NCAP Crash Test

Defending Indian carmakers Maruti Suzuki and Nissan Motor over a failed crash test, India’s auto industry body, Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM) said they meet country’s current safety standards and will keep up with required changes.

They said the UK-based agency had not considered that average speeds in India are lower than in the developed world, due to poor road conditions and heavy traffic.

Earlier this week, Global New Car Assessment Programme (NCAP),a consumer safety testing body, said Maruti’s hatchback Swift and Nissan’s compact car Datsun Go showed a high risk of life-threatening injuries to occupants when crashed headlong into a stationary object at 64kmph

The latest clash between India’s carmakers and NCAP comes at a time when the country is preparing to overhaul its car safety rules to reduce road accidents. CAP had already rattled the industry by failing five Indian-made cars in January.

To reduce traffic fatalities on roads, India’s new government, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is planning to overhaul highway laws, its most ambitious effort since independence in 1947.

Part of the government’s overhaul is the Bharat New Vehicle Safety Assessment Programme, a ranking system that will include crash tests among other factors before giving cars star ratings.


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