Rane TRW inaugurates new airbag plant in Chennai

Rane TRW Steering Systems Private Limited - Occupant Safety Division, a 50:50 joint venture between the Rane group and ZF TRW, has inaugurated an airbag manufacturing plant. This unit is located in the same campus as the company's seatbelt plant in Singaperumalkoil, Chennai, a near the Ford plant.

The airbag plant covers an area of 1,800 square metres. The plant has an installed capacity to produce around 5,00,000 airbags initially and has space to expansion. It will assemble driver and passenger airbag modules.

Rane TRW claims that it is currently working to localise airbag components in order to make it more competitive in the cost-conscious Indian market. The company also expects a growth in the application of frontal airbags over the next decade.

Rane TRW's Occupant Safety Division supplies seatbelts and airbags to automobile manufacturers such as Ford, Renault-Nissan, Mahindra, Maruti Suzuki, Tata Motors, Ashok Leyland and Daimler India Commercial Vehicles. The company exports nearly 15% of its Seatbelts volumes to Brazil, Colombia, Vietnam and Thailand among other countries.

The seatbelt plant has been operational since 1997.