The Government of India recently issued a notification proposing new mandatory norms for tires.
The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) has came out with a draft notification, proposing new tyre norms for cars, buses, and trucks which shall meet the requirements of rolling sound emissions, wet grip, and rolling resistance. These norms would be included in the Stage-II of the Automotive Indian Standards (AIS) 142:2019 as an amendment, subject to clearance and no objection. After this, the regulations will eventually be included in the Bureau of Indian Standard (BIS).
According to the ministry, rolling resistance has an impact on fuel efficiency, tyres with low rolling resistance are considered to be more environmentally friendly and more fuel-efficient whereas, rolling sound emission is related to sound produced by tyre when in motion and causing noise pollution. And as far as wet grip, it is related to the braking performance of the tyres under slippery/wet conditions like rains.
According to the proposed notification, new tyre models will have to be introduced in the Indian market from October 2021 and for all other existing models across the three-vehicle segments, by October 2022.
The move is likely to be the first step towards bringing a "Star Rating" system for tyres, in the country, in line with the ‘Tyre Labelling’ regulations (UNECE R 117) in Europe.
Moreover, as per the CMVR, UNECE R 117, and AIS 142 standards, the Manesar-based International Centre for Automotive Technology (iCAT) had also set up its NABL-accredited tyre test lab in the year 2018, to offer tyre approval and conformity of production certifications.
