Thanks to technology, safety in cars has increased substantially over the years. But, some of the cars offer better safety and protection against accidents than other cars. For instance, Tata recently made it to the headlines when the Punch model achieved a perfect 5-star rating in the Global NCAP crash test.
Unfortunately, most buyers go ahead with a car purchase without a proper understanding of vehicle safety ratings. There is a lot of confusion and misinformation regarding the vehicle safety ratings and crash tests. This article will break down and give you a better understanding of Global NCAP crash tests and ratings.
NCAP is an abbreviation for New Car Assessment Program. The USA was the first country in 1978 to develop a program that expresses a car's crashworthiness to consumers. In turn, this practice translated to holding crash tests and assessing the results.
This US NCAP model served as a base for similar programs in other parts of the world. Currently, there´s Australian NCAP, Euro NCAP, Japan NCAP, ASEAN NCAP, China NCAP, Korean NCAP, Latin NCAP, and Global NCAP.
The Global NCAP is an independent charity registered in the UK. It was formed to introduce better cooperation between different NCAPs.
One important thing to note is that every NCAP holds different crash test protocols and scores the cars differently. For the Global NCAP, which is valid in India, the cars are driven at 64 kmph with a 40% overlap into a deformable barrier. This testing mode equals crash between two cards of the same weight.
One of the essential points here is the difference in speed of the front offset test conducted by Indian authorities and Global NCAP. The test conducted by Indian authorities takes place at 56 km, which is significantly lower than the Global NCAP standards. Another essential thing to note here is that the Global NCAP protocols change every year.
Each car on the Global NCAP test is rated on a scale of 5-stars. The higher the star rating, the higher its reliability and safety for incidents involving crashes.
The rating is based on Child Occupant Protection and Adult Occupant Protection scores. These scores are gathered from readings of crash-test dummies. Sometimes the Global NCAP also awards points when special safety features are present.
If safety is your top priority while purchasing a vehicle, you can consider the below five cars that achieved a perfect score for the Global NCAP ratings:
Now that you know all about vehicle safety ratings, consider them when purchasing a car. Vehicle safety ratings can go a long way towards ensuring your protection from crash!
