India's crash-test programme is getting its first major overhaul. The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has notified draft rules for the next phase of Bharat NCAP under AIS-197 (Revision 1), widely referred to as Bharat NCAP 2.0, proposing a wider set of crash tests and a tougher, more comprehensive assessment framework. The new protocol is set to take over in October 2027, replacing the framework that launched on 22 August 2023. For new car buyers this is a straightforward win: safer cars, better measured. For used car buyers it introduces a wrinkle almost nobody is talking about yet: from late 2027, India will have two generations of star ratings in circulation, earned against two very different question papers, and a 5-star badge will no longer mean one single thing.
What the Draft Actually Proposes
The current Bharat NCAP, launched by MoRTH on 22 August 2023, assesses a car through three crash tests and publishes two headline scores: adult occupant protection out of 32 points and child occupant protection out of 49 points. It was a landmark for India, the first time the country rated its own cars on home soil rather than relying solely on international programmes, and in under three years it has visibly pushed manufacturers to engineer for the test.
Bharat NCAP 2.0, as laid out in the AIS-197 (Revision 1) draft published in November 2025, is the natural second step of that maturation. The current guidelines run until September 2027, and the draft proposes that the new framework takes over from October 2027. The headline changes, as reported by Autocar India and others covering the draft:
| Aspect | Current Bharat NCAP (2023) | Bharat NCAP 2.0 Draft (from Oct 2027) |
|---|---|---|
| Crash tests | 3 tests | 5 tests, adding full-width frontal and rear impact |
| Scoring | AOP out of 32, COP out of 49 | Single 100-point score across five pillars |
| Assessment scope | Occupant protection focused | Crash protection plus pedestrian protection, safe driving, accident avoidance, post-crash safety |
| Mandatory features for a rating | Current fitment norms | ESC and curtain airbags compulsory; AEB optional |
| 5-star threshold | Score-band based on AOP/COP | Proposed 70 points (2027-2029), rising to 80 points from 2029 |
The five-pillar structure is worth spelling out, because it changes what a star rating even measures. The draft splits the proposed 100 points across Crash Protection (55 percent of the weight), Vulnerable Road-User Protection (20 percent), Safe Driving (10 percent), Accident Avoidance (10 percent) and Post-Crash Safety (5 percent). Today's rating is overwhelmingly about how the structure and restraints protect the people inside the car. From October 2027, nearly half the score reflects things the current protocol barely touches: how the car treats pedestrians it hits, how it helps the driver avoid a crash in the first place, and what happens after the impact.
These are draft rules, not final ones. AIS-197 (Revision 1) has been notified as a draft, and details such as the exact thresholds could still shift before October 2027. But the direction is unambiguous: more tests, a wider definition of safety, and a higher bar for the top rating. That direction is what used car buyers need to plan around.
A 2023-Era 5-Star Is Not a 2027-Era 5-Star
Here is the part that matters most for anyone comparing cars in the classifieds. Star ratings are about to be recalibrated. A car that earned 5 stars under the 2023 protocol answered a three-test paper scored out of 32 and 49 points. A car that earns 5 stars from October 2027 will have answered a five-test paper scored out of 100 points, with a proposed pass mark for the top rating of 70 points, deliberately raised to 80 points from 2029 so the programme keeps pulling manufacturers upward.
Both badges will say "5 stars". They will not mean the same thing.
Take the freshest result under the current protocol. The Nissan Tekton, crash-tested in June 2026, scored a full 5-star rating with 30.49 out of 32 points for adult occupant protection and 45 out of 49 for child occupant protection, and it launched on 9 July 2026 at Rs. 10.49 Lakh to Rs. 18.59 Lakh ex-showroom. That is a genuinely strong result, and our piece on the Tekton's launch and its used-SUV impact covers why it matters for the segment. But the Tekton's 30.49/32 tells you nothing about how it would score against a rear-impact test or a pedestrian-protection assessment, because the protocol it was tested under does not include them. Retested under the 2.0 framework, today's 5-star cars may well land lower, not because they got less safe overnight, but because the exam got harder and broader. That is not a criticism of the current programme; it is exactly how a young rating system is supposed to mature, the same way crash-test regimes everywhere ratchet upward over time.
What this does to used car listings after 2027
From late 2027 onwards, a used car listing that says "5-star Bharat NCAP" will need a follow-up question: five stars under which protocol? A 2025 Tata or Mahindra rated under the 2023 framework and a 2028 model rated under the 2.0 framework will both carry the badge, but the newer badge will have been harder to earn. Expect sellers of 2.0-rated cars to shout about it, and expect ratings earned under the earlier protocol to quietly lose some of their shine in comparison, even where the underlying car is excellent. If you are shortlisting by safety, our guide to Bharat NCAP 5-star cars to buy in 2026 is the current-protocol picture, and it will remain the right reference for any car tested before October 2027.
Check the test date, not just the stars: Bharat NCAP publishes when each model was tested. Before you compare two used cars on their star count, confirm both scores came from the same protocol generation. Comparing a 2024 rating with a 2028 rating as if they sit on one scale is comparing marks from two different question papers.
The Rating Covers the Model. It Does Not Cover Your Car.
There is a second, older truth that Bharat NCAP 2.0 does not change at all, and it is the one that costs used car buyers real money. Every crash rating, under the 2023 protocol or the 2027 one, is earned by a brand-new example of the model, built to factory specification and tested in a laboratory. The score travels with the model line. It does not travel with the individual car whose keys you are about to take.
The specific used car in front of you may have been through a flood, a front-end collision or a rollover, and been repaired well enough to look clean in photographs. Airbags that deployed may have been replaced properly, replaced with salvage parts, or not replaced at all behind an intact-looking dashboard. A straightened chassis rail or a resprayed quarter panel does not appear in any brochure, and it certainly does not appear in the star rating. We made this argument in detail in A 32/32 NCAP Score Won't Save a Used Car, and everything in it applies just as much to a future 100-point score: the lab tested the model once, when it was new; nobody retested your car after its history happened to it.
That is the gap a per-car check exists to close. VahanBazaar's AI Vahan Inspection at Rs. 249 has our AI engine read a structured set of the car's photos alongside its VAHAN record, flagging condition red flags such as repaint and panel-gap inconsistencies as well as mismatches between what the seller claims and what the government record says. For the paperwork layer on its own, a Vahan Verify report at Rs. 49 pulls the car's RC status, owner count, blacklist flag and insurance details straight from the VAHAN database. Together they cost Rs. 298, a rounding error against a car worth several lakh rupees, and they answer the question no star rating can: what has happened to this particular car?
Star ratings rate the model. Inspect the car.
AI Vahan Inspection at Rs. 249 reads the car's photos plus its VAHAN record for condition and mismatch red flags. Vahan Verify at Rs. 49 pulls the official record in minutes.
What This Means for Used Car Buyers
1. Note which regime a rating came from. From October 2027, "5-star" is a two-generation term. Any car tested between 22 August 2023 and September 2027 carries a current-protocol score out of 32 and 49 points; anything tested after carries the proposed 100-point score. When a listing or a seller quotes a star count, check the test date on the Bharat NCAP result before treating two cars' ratings as comparable.
2. Expect safety-led repricing, gently. Star ratings already move metal in India, and ratings influence resale value, a dynamic we unpacked in how Bharat NCAP ratings affect car prices. As 2.0-rated cars enter the market from late 2027, they will set a new reference point, and used cars rated under the earlier protocol may see their safety premium soften relative to it. If you are buying a current 5-star car today, that is no reason to hesitate, the car is exactly as safe as it was, but it is a reason not to overpay purely for the badge.
3. Features that become mandatory will age well. The draft makes ESC and curtain airbags compulsory for any model seeking a rating from October 2027, with AEB optional but feeding the accident-avoidance pillar. Used cars that already carry ESC and six airbags today are, in effect, already specified to the incoming baseline, and should hold desirability better than skimped variants of the same model as buyer expectations reset.
4. Never let the model's score stand in for the car's condition. This rule survives every protocol change. Whether the badge says 30.49/32 or 85/100, the rating was earned in a lab by a new car. The used one in front of you needs its own check: a Rs. 49 record pull for the paperwork, and a Rs. 249 AI inspection for what the photographs and the VAHAN record reveal together.
The bottom line: Bharat NCAP 2.0 is India's crash-test programme growing up: five tests instead of three, a 100-point scale across five pillars, and a 5-star bar that rises from 70 to 80 points. For used car buyers, the star just became a moving target across years, and it was never a substitute for inspecting the specific car anyway. Check the protocol behind the rating, then check the car itself.
Ratings Cover the Model. Check Your Car.
Before you pay for any used car, pull its official record with Vahan Verify at Rs. 49, or let AI Vahan Inspection at Rs. 249 read the car's photos and VAHAN record together for condition and mismatch red flags. No star rating, old protocol or new, can do that for the specific car in front of you.
Frequently Asked Questions
Bharat NCAP 2.0 is the next phase of India's domestic crash-test programme, proposed in draft rules the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has notified under AIS-197 (Revision 1). It is set to replace the current protocol, which launched on 22 August 2023, from October 2027. The draft widens the assessment from three crash tests to five, moves scoring to a 100-point scale spread across five pillars including crash protection, vulnerable road-user protection and accident avoidance, and makes electronic stability control and curtain airbags compulsory for any model seeking a star rating. Until the new protocol takes over, cars continue to be rated under the 2023 framework, so a rating you see today was earned under the current, narrower test regime.
Ratings already published do not get rewritten, but they also do not carry over into the new framework. A 5-star score earned under the 2023 protocol was measured against three crash tests and a 32-point adult occupant protection scale; a 5-star score from October 2027 onwards will be measured against five crash tests and a 100-point scale with a proposed threshold of 70 points, rising to 80 points from 2029. If a model rated under the old protocol were retested under Bharat NCAP 2.0, there is no guarantee it would land on the same star count, because the bar is deliberately higher and the test coverage wider. For used car buyers, the practical takeaway is to always note which protocol a rating came from before comparing scores across cars.
Only loosely. Both tell you the model performed well or poorly against the protocol of its day, but the protocols measure different things on different scales. A rating from 2023 to 2027 reflects three crash tests scored out of 32 points for adult occupant protection and 49 for child occupant protection. A rating from October 2027 onwards is proposed to reflect five crash tests, plus assessments of vulnerable road-user protection, safe driving, accident avoidance and post-crash safety, rolled into a 100-point score. Comparing a 5-star from each era as if they were equal is like comparing exam marks from two different question papers. When you shortlist used cars, treat the star count as a starting filter and check the year and protocol behind it.
No. A crash rating, under any protocol, is earned by a brand-new example of the model, built to factory specification and tested once in a laboratory. It says nothing about the individual used car in front of you. An accident repair, a replaced airbag that was never restored correctly, a straightened chassis rail or a resprayed panel will not appear in any brochure or rating certificate. That is why a used car needs its own check: VahanBazaar's AI Vahan Inspection at Rs. 249 analyses the car's photos together with its VAHAN record to flag condition and mismatch red flags, and a Vahan Verify report at Rs. 49 pulls the car's registration, ownership and blacklist status from the VAHAN database before you commit.
Under the draft rules notified under AIS-197 (Revision 1), electronic stability control (ESC) and curtain airbags become compulsory for any model that wants a Bharat NCAP star rating from October 2027. Autonomous emergency braking (AEB) remains optional in the draft, though it feeds into the accident-avoidance pillar of the proposed 100-point score. For used car buyers this matters in a quieter way: as these features become the entry ticket to a rating on new cars, used cars that already carry ESC and six airbags are likely to hold their value and desirability better than variants that skipped them.