Nitin Gadkari, the Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways has confirmed that the all new manufactured vehicles in India will have 6 airbags as standard. Earlier, a draft notification was issued asking to have 6 airbags in vehicles that can carry eight people. This new rule of having 6 airbags will be implemented from October 1, 2022. The minister has not yet announced a proper date or timeline to make 6 airbags compulsory for all cars.
As per the draft notification that was issued in January 2022, vehicles that carry up to eight people will fall into the category of M1. Two airbags will be installed at the front and two curtain airbags will be installed at the rear. In India, safety equipment are not considered as parameter till now. It was April, 2009 when government started offering safety features like driver side airbag, reverse parking sensors.
All these efforts are being made to make Indian customers a lot more safer. Number of vehicles are increasing everyday with number of accidents. The problem that manufacturer are going to face in increasing number of airbags is cost. The price is likely to go up by Rs 50,000. Therefore, this is not an exciting news for auto industry as they have been struggling because of the pandemic.
Currently, Kia is the only one manufacturer that offers 6 airbags with Carens and will soon start offering with Seltos and Sonet. In many cars, 6 airbags are available in the top-end variants. Otherwise, there are many manufacturers who do not offer 6 airbags and this new norm will become a challenge.
