Six Airbags To Become Mandatory In India (Proposal Withdrawn)

[Nairrk]

The Minister Of Road, Transport and Highways (MoRTH) - Nitin Gadkari is quite famed for his determination towards progress and advancement of the Indian auto market and for setting some ambitious targets as well. Be it 100 per cent electrification, adopting alternative fuel such as CNG or ethanol or regularising emission norms, Gadkari has been quite vocal on these matters and has taken steps in the direction of achieving his targets as well. Now his next move is to make vehicles in India even safer and so after implementation of mandatory fitment of two airbags for all four-wheelers, the minister is now planning to mandate six airbags in all cars.

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[Nairrk]

MoRTH approves draft notification for making 6 airbags mandatory

After mooting the need of more airbags for passenger safety almost six months back, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari on Friday said that he has approved a Draft General Statutory Rule (GSR) Notification to make a minimum of 6 airbags compulsory, to enhance the safety of the occupants in motor vehicles carrying up to 8 passengers.

In August 2021, the Road Transport and Highways Minister had appealed to the car manufacturers to provide six airbags for all cars irrespective of their costs to improve occupant safety. The airbag manufacturers were asked to come up with the suggestive bags.

In a series of tweets, he said his ministry had already mandated the implementation of fitment of the driver airbag effective from July 1, 2019 and the front co-passenger airbag effective from January 1, 2022.

“To minimise the impact of frontal and lateral collisions to the occupants seated in both the front and the rear compartments, it has been decided that 4 additional airbags be mandated in the M1 vehicle category, i.e two side/side torso airbags and two side curtain/tube airbags covering all outboard passengers. This is a crucial step to make motor vehicles in India safer than ever,” he said in his tweet.

According to the Minister, this will ultimately ensure the safety of passengers across all segments, irrespective of the cost or variant of the vehicle.
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[Nairrk]

6 airbags to be made mandatory in vehicles from October 2022: Draft notification issued

The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways have come forward with a new rule, where it has made mandatory for car manufacturers to offer a minimum of six airbags in cars that can carry up to 8 passengers. This decision has been taken by the ministry to increase the safety of the occupants inside the car. The new rule is expected to be implemented in the cars from October this year. The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) in a statement said that in order to enhance the safety of occupants of the motor vehicle against lateral impact, it has been decided to enhance safety features by amending the Central Motor Vehicles Rules (CMVR), 1989.

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[Nairrk]

6 Airbags made mandatory in cars from 1 October 2022

Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways, Nitin Gadkari confirmed that all the new vehicles that will be manufactured in India will soon have 6 airbags as standard. Earlier this year, the ministry had approved a draft notification that asked to make 6 airbags mandatory in vehicles that can seat eight people. The 6 airbag rule for 8 seater vehicles are most likely to be implemented by 1 October 2022.

The announcement by Nitin Gadkari on the floor of the Lok Sabha will ensure that a lot more lives will be saved in case an unfortunate accident occurs on our roads. The addition of the 4 airbags especially those curtain airbags will ensure that cars will be a lot safer in case of a side-on crash. The presence of side curtain airbags will also help keep occupants safer in case of a rollover.

The new norms will also ensure that all variants of every car sold in the country will have a minimum of six airbags as standard instead of the current setup which sees only the top-spec versions fitted with the entire set of available safety features. Currently, the only vehicles that seem to offer the whole array of airbags in all variants are luxury cars from European carmakers like Mercedes, Audi and BMW. However, with the implementation of the new rules, all new cars running on Indian roads will have a minimum of 6 airbags as standard, which in turn would mean an increase in price.

There are reports around that suggest that adding the full array of six airbags which include side curtain airbags could increase the prices of cars by at least Rs 50,000. While this may seem to be too steep an increase in prices, the safety upgrade will make it worth the extra cash in the long term. We agree with the Government's sentiment of wanting to ensure that the people are safer even if it means that they'll have to spend a bit more to ensure that because, in the end, a life saved is way more important than spending more money.

Drivespark

 

[Nairrk]

India aims to finalize six-airbags rule by year-end to beef up road safety

India’s road transport minister expects to finalise rules for all cars to have six airbags by the end of the current fiscal year, as part of a series of steps to improve safety in a country that has the world’s deadliest roads. The renewed push comes after Cyrus Mistry, the former chairman of Indian conglomerate Tata Sons, died in a car crash on Sunday, reigniting the road safety debate in the world’s fourth-largest car market.

The draft rules were made public in January and were expected to be finalised a month later, but they are facing resistance from some car makers which say it will increase vehicle prices. The government is also planning to make it mandatory for car makers to install an alarm system for rear seat belts to enforce their use and will audit all national highways to make them safer, Nitin Gadkari said at his residence on Wednesday.

Life safety is important for all people,” Gadkari said, adding that he hopes to finalise the airbags rule by the end of the year. Gadkari said he hopes the efforts will halve road accidents and deaths by the end of 2024.

More than 150,000 people died in over 500,000 road accidents in India in 2021, Gadkari said. In 2020 more than 133,000 people were killed in 355,000 road accidents, government data showed. About 3 million cars are sold in India each year, and car passengers accounted for 13% of the deaths in 2020.

Two airbags – one each for the driver and front passenger – are already mandatory. The government estimates adding four more airbags would cost no more than $75. Auto market data provider JATO Dynamics, however, estimates it could increase costs by at least $231.

“We have asked car makers to be quality conscious, not cost conscious,” Gadkari said, adding that cars exported from India to several other markets are already fitted with six airbags so can be easily introduced in the country as well.
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[allhyundaicars]

So now it has already been pushed to December 2022.
Car makers won't let this rule implement easily.

 

[350Z]

The six-airbag rule has now been deferred by upto 18 months owing to resistance by automakers and additional capacity required to manufacture airbags. (Source: Autocar)

Drive Safe,
350Z

 

[350Z]

Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways, has now confirmed that six-airbags will be mandatory in all passengers cars (M1 category) sold in India w.e.f October 2023.

Drive Safe,
350Z

 

[350Z]

International Road Federation has (rightly) urged Nitin Gadkari that six-airbag rule should not be time bound but should be governed by the survey, indicating how many people are wearing rear seat belts.

IRF suggests that six airbags in passenger vehicles should be made mandatory once 85% of the people start wearing rear seat belts. Otherwise, it will become counterproductive and we will lose more lives.

According to MoRTH data, in 70% of 2-wheeler accident deaths, victims were found not wearing helmets and in 87% of the car accident deaths, victims were found not wearing seat belts.​

Press Release:

International Road Federation (IRF) , a global road safety body working for better and safer roads worldwide welcoming the announcement by Mr Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways (MoRTH) deferring the decision of making six airbags mandatory till October 1, 2023. IRF has urged him that this provision should not be time bound but should be governed by the survey, indicating how many people are wearing rear seat belts.

“The six airbags in passenger vehicles should be made mandatory once 85 % of the people start wearing rear seat belts. Once this figure crosses 85% pan India, the government should go ahead making this provision of six airbags. this provision. Otherwise, it will become counterproductive and we will loose more lives.” Said Mr K K Kapila, President Emeritus, International Road Federation (IRF)

“A clarification to this effect may kindly be issued by the Ministry to give the right indication to the people that if you want to save your lives, please wear seat belts. Unless people start wearing rear seat belts the provision of six airbags will become counterproductive leading to more fatal accidents . In a crash, seat belts are primary restraint devices whereas Airbags are Supplemental support. Rather Several global studies have shown that if an airbag is deployed without having the seat belt on, it can cause severe injuries and even death.” Said Mr Kapila.

“According to MoRTH data, in 70% of the 2-wheeler accident deaths, victims were found NOT wearing helmets; and in 87% of the car accident deaths, victims were found NOT wearing seat belts. Sadly 96% of car passengers do not wear seat belts on the backseat. It is high time that we move away from the populist ideology of mandating regulations, safety devices like Six Airbags, but bite the bitter pill of Enforcement and Penalties that may affect masses. Of course, harsh measures will face resistance and give discomfort initially, but eventually they will become a habit. “ Mr Kapila added .

“IRF will prepare a one to one and a half minutes film to highlight this point for screening on Cinema Halls and Television Network” said Mr Kapila.

Drive Safe,
350Z

 

[350Z]

Nitin Gadkari has announced that there is no need to mandate six airbags anymore, with the launch of the Bharat New Car Assessment Programme (BNCAP) from October 1, 2023 (Source: Link)

"We have introduced the BNCAP protocols, which demands six airbags for a 4- or 5-star rating. So, there is no need to mandate six airbags in cars now. It will automatically push OEMs to offer them."

Drive Safe,
350Z