The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) has issued a draft notification to carmakers asking them to supply front passenger airbags on all models. it’ll soon be made mandatory for all new cars sold in India to supply dual front airbags as a typical fitment across all variants. We are yet to find out the precise go back when the new safety norms will inherit the effect.
Currently, many budget offerings are equipped only with one driver airbag. The higher-end variants of the cars get dual front airbags, which suggests you’ve got to pay a premium for the essential safety kit.
Cars like Maruti S-Presso, Alto, WagonR, Celerio, Renault Kwid, Datsun redi-GO, Hyundai Santro and Mahindra Bolero don’t offer a co-driver airbag as standard, but as an option from the mid-spec or top-end trims. Maruti Eeco doesn’t even offer a co-driver airbag as an option.
As per the newest notification, every new car sold here are going to be required to possess a co-driver airbag. this may cause a marginal price hike for all the budget cars which miss out on the feature simply for cost-cutting measures. Once effective, we expect to ascertain a hike of around Rs 10,000.
The addition of a co-driver airbag will increase the security of the car and save people from major injuries during an accident. All cars above Rs 5-6 lakh offer dual airbags as standard. the opposite safety features that are mandatory in every car include ABS, Electronic Braking Distribution (EBD), rear parking sensors, front seatbelt reminders, high-speed alert system, and manual override for central locking.