ARAI revises ground clearance norms

As per the new mandate, ground clearance will be measured when the car is fully laden

The Automotive Research Association of India (ARAI) has recently announced that ground clearance (GC) will not be measured with an unladen vehicle. With this measurement, you get maximum ground clearance. As per the revised regulation, the GC will now be measured with the vehicle loaded to its authorised maximum capacity. This will help reflect the minimum ground clearance. This move seems to be a step in the right direction by ARAI considering that the car’s underbelly is most vulnerable when it is fully loaded.

Ground clearance is one of the most important dimensions of the car. It is the distance of the lowest most part of the car from the ground. As the load on the vehicle increases, the suspension compresses to lower the car. GC of vehicles changes by up to 30 percent after it is loaded with the authorised maximum capacity.

Certain manufacturers have already started sharing the GCs of their cars as per the new norm. For instance, the GC of the Fiat Avventura is now 156mm instead of the 205mm according to the previous measurement. Similarly, the GC of the Fortuner and the Tiguan is down to 184mm and 149mm from 225mm and 189mm respectively.

Some manufacturers are still to update their official websites and share the ground clearance as per the new regulations.