Airbags made mandatory for new cars from October 2017

In an attempt to curb rising road accidents and fatalities, the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways has released a new notification that mentions that airbags will be mandatory to be a standard feature on all new cars, starting from October 2017. Additionally, rear parking sensors, speed warning systems and seatbelt reminders have also been added in the mandatory standard feature list. It was earlier reported that Airbags will be made mandatory from October 2018.

The presence of airbags, even on the base models of all cars, will surely help in reducing fatalities due to accidents. The government claims that making rear parking sensors a standard feature is a result of various cases where reversing vehicles have hit small children that the driver wasn't able to see. With the sensors made standard, incidents of cars running over children are expected to go down.

Additionally, the notification also mandates the presence of a speed warning system on all cars. This system will notify the driver when the car's speed goes over 80 km/h, while once the car crosses the 100 km/h mark, a constant audio alert will be engaged, thus forcing the driver to slow down.

Meanwhile, the Government is also working on starting its own crash tests under the Bharat NCAP (New Car Assessment Programme). These tests will include a frontal crash at 64 km/h, a side impact crash at 50 km/h, and pedestrian protection tests. The government has notified October 2017 to be the deadline for all new cars to pass the Bharat NCAP crash tests.

Source: ET Auto