New Global NCAP Safety test: See changes to assessment

The Global NCAP has already standardised some admirably elevated safety bars in the Indian automobile industry. Going forward, they are firm on making their new car assessment tests ever more challenging to assure the best safety in cars. From July 2022, the Global NCAP will implement these new protocols that include some additional tests and tougher measurables. The premise of these protocols will be 2002 Euro NCAP or 2016 Latin NCAP, however, the tests will include modern and contemporary technologies to suit the current requirements.

Table of Contents

• For Adult Safety
• Scoring
• Additional requirements for 3, 4, and 5-Star rating
• FAQs

The new protocols will include:

• A 64 km/hr offset deformable barrier frontal impact with some evaluation modifications.
• A 54 km/hr MDB side impact test: A running deformable barrier hitting the car from the side.
• Front and rear seat belt reminders
• Electronic Stability Control
• Pedestrian protection
• A side pole test for side head protection: The car will be propelled sideways at 29 km/hr at a right angle (90-degree) against a rigid pole.

Child occupant protection will see numerous changes. They will include Q-series dummies in the assessment, the side impact scoring will be done in dynamic test, and award the vehicle 0 points if the car has a lap belt in any position during the test.

For Adult Safety

Frontal Impact

While the configuration of tests for frontal impact will mostly remain the same as the old assessment, the new rules will have some stricter guidelines.

• The chest compression/rib deflection limits will be stricter.
• In cases where there is hard contact, the head injury will be calculated using the latest form of Head Injury Criterion- HIC15.
• A penalty will be charged for high shoulder-belt loads. Cars without seatbelt load limiters will have serious problems.
• If it’s found that after stripping the car, the structural reinforcements are biassed towards the driver side, then the relevant penalty will be applied.
• The manufacturer will be penalised for A-pillar displacement, unstable structure, footwell rupture, shoulder-belt load.
• If the contact of the passenger’s head with the fascia is considerably hard, then the head score will be reduced by a point regardless of dummy readings.
• If the fuel tank leaks after the crash, one point will be deducted for this failure.

Side Impact

Another big change will be the addition of side impact in total scoring. In the new side-impact test, while the barrier, speed, and impact location will be the same, the dummy will be positioned differently and there will be child dummies in the back seats in the recommended child seats.

Points according to the body regions in the side impact are:

• Head: 4 points
• Chest: 4 points
• Abdomen: 4 points
• Pelvis: 4 points

Moreover, the cars will be penalised for incorrect airbag deployment, and for taking advantage of weak dummy anthropometry. This refers to using the parts of the dummy to transmit forces that are not present in a human body. If a door opens during the test, then scores will be penalised by only one point.

Seat Belt reminders

Instead of just one point for seat belt reminders, now, there will be two points for seat belt reminders, one for front occupants and one for seat belt reminders for rear occupants. The one point for front occupants is distributed as 0.5 for the driver and 0.5 for all front passengers combined. For example, Maruti Wagon R: 0.5 for driver + 0.5 for the front passenger.

The point for the rear seatbelt reminder will be awarded only if the front seatbelt reminder scores 1 point. Moreover, points for the rear seatbelt reminder will not be divided for each occupant, but are awarded the full one point only if all rear seating positions have a seatbelt.

Scoring

The final scores will decide the rating, which will include 16 points of frontal impact + 16 points for side-impact + 2 points for front and rear seat belt reminder.

Here is what the rating for adult safety would be on the basis of final scores:

• 0 to 4: 0 Star
• 4 to 10: 1 Star
• 10 to 16: 2 Stars
• 16 to 22 + additional requirements: 3 Stars
• 22 to 27 + additional requirements: 4 Stars
• 27 to 34 + additional requirements: 5 Stars

The star capping will be applied just as before. If the dummy readings signal a high risk of life-threatening injury for a critical body region in either the front or side impacts, the car will lose points for that particular impact. The car will also be awarded a 0-Star rating, regardless of its score.

If it’s found that even after applying penalties a body region shows poor protection (red), the star rating will be capped at one star.

In the case of SUVs and pickup trucks, it was noticed that many of them scored well in the side impact due to heightened driver’s seats and the aggregated scores earned them adequate star ratings despite very bad frontal impact performance. Henceforth, from now on, if there is more than a 35% difference between the front and side-impact scores, the rating is reduced by one star.

Additional requirements for 3, 4, and 5-Star rating

To score a 3 or above-Star rating, the cars will have to fulfil some other safety aspects.

Pedestrian Protection

The pedestrian protection device must be fitted as standard as a requirement for 3, 4, and 5 stars, and the car must pass the relevant UN regulation.

Electronic Stability Control

Electronic Stability Control (ESC) will be evaluated using the sine-dwell test with a steering robot to make sure of repeatable results regardless of the driver.

Moreover, for the first two years, the manufacturer must sign a commitment to offering the ESC as a standalone feature for all variants and not in the package with anything else, like an automatic gearbox. And after two years, it must be made standard for that model. Failing to follow this norm might result in the reduction of the rating.

Side Head Protection (Pole test)

In the pole test, the car will be propelled sideways at 29 km/hr at the right angle (90-degree) against a rigid pole. For the side head protection, the car must meet the following requirements:

• The sales volume of the side curtain airbag, a combination of torso and head airbags, or any other head protection device must meet a minimum sales figures and performance requirements according to an old Euro NCAP pole test (v5.2).
• During the test, the car must be able to shield occupants from life-threatening injury to the head, hard contact through the airbag, and direct contact with the pole. All other body regions must be able to avoid the high risk of life-threatening injury, and there will be no penalties applied beyond dummy readings.

Seat Belt Reminders (H3)

To score 3, 4, or 5 stars, the car must have seat belt reminders for all the front passengers. This is a specific requirement in Euro NCAP as they make sure that reminders are more annoying than required by Indian or UN regulation, however, not so annoying that occupants try to disable them. Moreover, points for the head, neck, and chest should be satisfactory. The rear seat belt reminders could help the car achieve a higher star rating, but is not a mandatory requirement.

Here are the new Global NCAP protocols

Adult Occupant Protection 

Child Occupant Protection

FAQs

What is the Global NCAP test?

The Global New Car Assessment Programme: G-NCAP is a Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA)-funded body, which evaluates the crashworthiness of a car via some crash tests set with various vital parameters.

What is a side pole test?

In the side pole test, the car is propelled sideways at a specific speed against a rigid, narrow pole.

How many tests does Global NCAP do?

The Global NCAP has been doing only front offset crash tests so far. However, from July 2022, they will be implementing new protocols which will include: a 64 km/hr offset deformable barrier frontal impact test, a 54 km/hr MDB side impact test, front and rear seat belt reminders, Electronic Stability Control, Pedestrian protection, a side pole test.

What is a side impact test in Euro NCAP?

In the MDB side impact test of Euro NCAP, a running deformable barrier at a specific speed hits the car from the side.