ARAI to set up advanced crash testing and transmissions facility

The Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI), the country’s apex research institute which carries out more than 90 percent of homologation activities, plans to upgrade its equipment to be at par with global technical centres.

As part of this process, ARAI is set to open a greenfield facility, partly funded by NATRiP, by June 2014.  The new facility will have a modern powertrain laboratory, fatigue laboratory, advanced crash testing facility and a transmission testing laboratory too. Construction work on the Rs 300 crore project, which is taking shape on a 15-acre site at Chakan, began last year.

Sharing details on the new centre, D J Kulkarni, senior deputy director, ARAI, told Autocar Professional, “Besides this new facility, we are looking for another 100 acres of land to expand further within the next two years.”

Recently, five Indian-made cars failed the Euro NCAP tests. Experts attribute this, among other things, to the lack of stringent crash safety regulations and a state-of-the-art crash testing facility. According to Kulkarni, a single test at the existing crash test facility at ARAI takes 3-4 days; with the new facility, it will be possible to do two crash tests per day. Also, at present, a crash test vehicle is driven by fuel on board and on-ground wires which propel the vehicle to its directed path. But fuel on board is a risky proposition and the uptime is also very high. At the new crash test lab, the vehicle will be propelled by a DC motor to the desired speed and location. There will also be test dummies and vehicle and chassis dynamometers for various evaluation tests.  

“We will also have a very advanced transmission testing facility for the first time in India. All types of transmissions, from those for small vehicles to heavy commercial vehicles, can be evaluated on this system. The equipment is expected to arrive this week and the building will be ready by around June, so we are looking to commence operations then,” said Kulkarni.

The new facility, which will be staffed by around 120 people, will be ARAI’s second, after its existing unit in Pune which has over 600 people working in about 11 different laboratories.

Photograph: D J Kulkarni, senior deputy director, ARAI.