RAS question
Bharat New Car Assessment Programme (Bharat NCAP) launched in 2023 tests vehicles for:
Correct answer: (D) Crash safety and occupant protection.
Bharat New Car Assessment Programme tests vehicles for crash safety and occupant protection, with ratings based on adult occupant protection and child occupant protection.
Explanation
Bharat NCAP is about vehicle crash safety, not mileage, emissions or speed. The PIB release says the programme gives car customers a way to compare the crash safety of motor vehicles available in the market. Manufacturers may voluntarily offer cars for testing under Automotive Industry Standard AIS-197, and performance in those tests leads to star ratings for Adult Occupants and Child Occupant. Bharat NCAP uses frontal offset and side impact crash tests to assess adult occupant protection, child occupant protection and safety assist technologies, then assigns a 1-5 star safety rating. The aim is to raise vehicle safety standards in India by making safety performance visible to buyers.
Why the other options are wrong
- (A) Fuel efficiency only is wrong because Bharat NCAP is framed as a crash-safety assessment programme, not a mileage or fuel-consumption test.
- (B) Emission standards is wrong because PIB links Bharat NCAP to road safety and crash-safety ratings, not pollution-control norms.
- (C) Speed testing is wrong because the programme rates vehicles on crash-test performance and occupant protection, not their maximum speed or acceleration.
Concept
The concept belongs to government initiatives in road safety and vehicle regulation under Science and Technology. It recurs in RAS because recent Indian standards and consumer-safety schemes often appear as direct current-affairs questions.