ARAI to set up inspection and certification test centres

The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has entrusted the Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI) to set up inspection and certification test centres in at least five different states including Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Karnataka and Telangana.

Of these upcoming test centres, it is estimated that while Nashik is the chosen location for the one for Maharashtra, ARAI plans to set one up on the Railmagra-Udaipur highway in Rajasthan. The chosen locations for these proposed test centres for other remaining states remain unknown at present.

As per the plan, these centres will carry out emission and safety inspection processes. The emission inspection processes will include free acceleration tests (for diesel-run vehicles) and idle tests (for petrol, LPG, CNG vehicles). On the other hand, the centres will house automated equipment to carry out safety inspection checks, which will include speedometer, brake tests, suspension, underbody and overbody areas, joint play, headlamps, tail-lamps, side slip and others.

Sources associated with the development say that while ARAI will build and handover these test centres to the government, the operating authorities for them are yet to be finalised.

ARAI is known to be providing consultancy services to set up optimal sized test centres for government and private organisations, along with executing turnkey projects of establishing greenfield test centres, carrying out the audits of these centres and training the motor vehicle inspectors and operators. The association is currently engaged with several organisations for providing these services.

Meanwhile, giving an update on ARAI’s upcoming 55,000 square metre Chakan facility, Rashmi Urdhwareshe, director, ARAI, said: “Augmentation of ARAI’s facilities will have three centres of excellence – one COE in powertrain, fatigue and materials, and passive safety. This will be done at Chakan. Out of these centres, the building of a passive safety lab and its infrastructure is now ready and installation of key equipment for crash testing is in the advanced stage of completion.”

Interestingly, the all-new passive test facility built under NATRiP at ARAI, Chakan houses equipment for carrying out crash tests such as full frontal, offset frontal, side, side pole and rear impact as per AIS, IS, ECE, FMVSS and NCAP requirements. It also houses static rollover test facility, full-fledged dummy calibration facility, electric AC drive crash test system with payload capacity of 3,500kg and propelling speed of 80kph and many others.

It is to be noted that ARAI is working on a number of regulations which include vehicle level certification for two- and three-wheelers (AIS 004 part III), certification of immobiliser, vehicle alarm system, anti-theft device (AIS 075/076), requirements for behaviour of steering mechanism of a vehicle in a head-on collision (AIS 096), ABS for trucks and buses, type approval for motor caravan, automotive trailer code (AIS 113), agricultural tractor code (AIS 112), truck code (AIS 093) and many others.

At SIAT 2015 held earlier this month, ARAI, at its pavilion, also displayed its engineering capabilities in the form of technology and product showcase. Among others, it displayed an in-house designed and developed 1.5-litre, three-cylinder, high-power density diesel engine, which can churn out a maximum power output of 75Kw. According to ARAI officials, this is a single-stage turbocharged engine meant for automotive applications.