From July 2019, Airbags were made mandatory for driver side of vehicle. Also various measures were introduced to enhance pedestrian’s safety in October 2020. Now, according to the draft containing new car safety norms uploaded on the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways Website, car safety is about to be extended to dual front airbags both for driver and passenger.
Front Passenger Side Air-Bags for Existing and New Cars :-
Since 1st July 2019 itself, GoI had previously mandated driver airbag for cars and now it has made it mandatory to have passenger side airbags as well as a standard feature.
All cars launched before 1st April 2021 will have to comply with new regulations of having dual front airbags.
This safety feature is for all existing models not having more than 8 seats in addition to the driver seat that fall under the M1 category. Category M1 means a motor vehicle used for the carriage of passengers, consisting of not more than 8 seats in addition to the driver’s seat.
New Cars And Other Safety Features :-
This safety feature will be compulsory from 1st June 2021 for new cars under M1 category which were launched after 1st April 2021. In the event of any accident, the inclusion of front passenger airbag will bring about better chance of survival for passenger.
Added safety equipment in the form of front passenger safety belt reminder, manual override for central locking system and reverse parking alert are also mentioned in the 15th December 2020 draft. However, the deadline for the same has not been stipulated.
Provisions like ESC – Electronic Stability Control and AEB – Autonomous Emergency Braking are being considered by government as standard on vehicles from 2022-2023. This will not only increase the safety for passengers as well as pedestrians, but also make Indian cars as safe as their global counterparts.
This update will however result to higher pricing as buyers will have to pay for added safety. Even as Vinkesh Gulati, President, Federation Of Automobile Dealers Associations (FADA), has stated that this is a much needed safety norm which would put cars in India on par with global standards. Flip side to the same is the fact that automakers in India are currently facing adverse impact due to increased commodity and transportation charges. The bringing in of this mandatory feature would lead to an increase in costs which would further impact car sales especially where lower variants are concerned.
