Automotive Industry Standards

The Automotive Industry Standards are the automotive technical specifications of India.[1] They are based on the UNECE norms.[2][3]

Regulatory framework

The automotive and vehicle regulations in India are governed by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRT&H) which is the nodal ministry for regulation of the automotive sector in India.[4][5]

In India the Rules and Regulations related to driving license, registration of motor vehicles, control of traffic, construction & maintenance of motor vehicles etc. are governed by the Motor Vehicles Act, 1988 (MVA) and the Central Motor Vehicles rules 1989 (CMVR).

The CMVR - Technical Standing Committee (CMVR-TSC) advises MoRT&H on various technical aspects related to CMVR. This Committee has representatives from various organisations namely; Ministry of Heavy Industries & Public Enterprises (MoHI&PE), MoRT&H, Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), Testing Agencies such as International Centre for Automotive Technology (ICAT), Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI), Vehicle Research and Development Establishment (VRDE), Central Institute of Road Transport (CIRT), industry representatives from Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), Automotive Component Manufacturers Association (ACMA) and Tractor Manufacturers Association (TMA) and representatives from State Transport Departments.

CMVR-TSC is assisted by another Committee called the Automobile Industry Standards Committee (AISC) having members from various stakeholders in drafting the technical standards related to Safety. The major functions of the committee are as follows:

  • Preparation of new standards for automotive items related to safety.
  • To review and recommend amendments to the existing standards
  • Recommend adoption of such standards to CMVR Technical Standing Committee
  • Recommend commissioning of testing facilities at appropriate stages
  • Recommend the necessary funding of such facilities to the CMVR Technical Standing Committee
  • Advise CMVR Technical Standing Committee on any other issues referred to it

AISC submits the draft safety standards in the form of recommendations to CMVR-TSC for final approval. The CMVR – TSC looks into the recommendations of AISC and either approves or sends the recommendations to AISC for amendments. After approval CMVR-TSC submits its final proposal to MoRT&H. MoRT&H then takes the final decision for incorporation of the recommendations in CMVR.

The Automotive Industry Standards are published by the Automotive Research Association of India on behalf of the Automotive Industry Standards Committee.

Under Rule 126 of the CMVR, various test agencies are established to test and certify the vehicles based on the safety standards and emission norms prescribed by the Ministry. Every manufacturer of motor vehicle has to submit a prototype of the vehicle to be manufactured to any of the test agencies mentioned hereafter. After testing the vehicle for compliance of all standards and norms, the test agency shall grant a certificate to the manufacturer. The test agencies are – Automotive Research Association of India, Pune (ARAI), Vehicle Research & Development Establishment, Ahmednagar, Central Farm Machinery Testing and Training Institute, Budhni, Indian Institute of Petroleum, Dehradun, Central Institute of Road Transport, Pune and International Centre for Automotive Technology, Manesar.

List of standards

Following is a list of some of the AIS standards:[6]

  • AIS-098: Offset frontal crash
  • AIS-100: Pedestrian protection
  • AIS-99: Side mobile deformable offset

Criticism
Rank by
vehicle
sales in
2017[7]		 Country Estimated road

traffic death

rate per 100,000

population, 2018[8]

1China18.2
2United States12.4
3Japan4.1
4India22.6
5Germany4.1
6U.K.3.1
7France5.5
8Brazil19.7
9Italy5.6
10Canada5.8

AIS have been criticised for not enforcing occupant safety norms.[9] As a result, vehicles sold in India often do not meet safety requirements, as was seen when some of India's best-selling cars were tested for the first time in Germany much after being launched in India.[10][11][12] The number of deaths due to road accidents in India is around three to four times that of European countries like France, Germany and Spain.[13] India is the world's sixth-largest car market, but is still the only country in the global top ten car markets which does not have a proper car safety regulation or testing programme.[11] While the use of seatbelts is compulsory, the enforcement of these laws is poor resulting in only 27% of drivers complying with the law which aggravates the problem.[14]

There has been much criticism of the fact that all the bodies involved in formulating vehicle norms are under the control of the automotive manufacturers, and that instead of having a single central body, there are numerous ministries and bodies involved.[15][16] It has been suggested that an Indian New Car Assessment Program (NCAP) should be set up urgently, jointly by a foreign body, the government and the industry itself.[11] In May 2014, it was reported that the introduction of the Bharat New Vehicle Safety Assessment Program was being planned.[17]

See also

References
  1. "AIS Standards". Automotive Research Association of India. Retrieved 25 January 2015.
  2. "Safety Standards for Cars". pib.gov.in. Retrieved 19 September 2023.
  3. "Society of Indian Automobile Manufactures". www.siam.in. Retrieved 19 September 2023.
  4. "Regulatory Framework". Archived from the original on 2011-01-27. Retrieved 2011-02-02.
  5. "Reference at www.indialawjournal.com".
  6. "Automotive Research And Development, Automotive Service Provider, India, Vehicle Type Certification, Automotive Testing And Calibration, Vehicle Design Labs, Advanced Automotive Design Standards, Automotive Engineering Course" (PDF).
  7. "India is now the 4th largest auto market, overtakes Germany » MotorOctane". 24 March 2018.
  8. "Global status report on road safety 2018". www.who.int. Retrieved 2021-08-03.
  9. "Reference at www.carsafetyrules.com".
  10. "Reference at www.globalncap.org".
  11. "Tata Nano, other Indian small cars fail independent crash tests".
  12. "Alto K10 scores zero in crash test - ZigWheels".
  13. WHO, ed. (2015). "WHO Global status report on road safety 2015 (data table A2)" (official report). Geneva, Switzerland: World Health Organisation (WHO). Archived from the original (PDF) on November 30, 2015. Retrieved 2016-01-26.
  14. "Reference at www.who.int" (PDF).
  15. "The ugly side of India's automotive boom : Car-Nama". Archived from the original on 2013-03-06. Retrieved 2013-08-17.
  16. "Road safety: India needs to raise the bar - Rediff.com".
  17. "Cars set to get safer: Govt draws strict crash test norms forcing architectural changes in models". The Economic Times. 21 May 2014. Retrieved 5 June 2014.
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