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Traffic in India’s financial hub Mumbai. The twisted metal of smashed up cars regularly lining highways is a regular sight on India’s roads, where tens of thousands of people die in accidents each year. Photo: Reuters

India proposes 6 mandatory airbags in all new passenger cars in bid to reduce fatalities

  • Government wants carmakers to provide two side, two rear airbags as well as the two that are already required
  • In 2020, nearly 132,000 people died in more than 366,000 road accidents
India
India, which has among the world’s deadliest roads, on Saturday proposed mandating at least six airbags in all passenger cars manufactured from October 1.

The government wants carmakers to provide two side airbags and two curtain airbags, to protect those seated in the rear seats, in addition to the already required two airbags for all vehicles.

The side airbags are to “help mitigate primarily torso injury” during a side crash, while the curtain airbags would “deploy in a side impact crash or roll over to help mitigate primarily head injury”, the ministry of road transport said.

A Tata Nano, heralded as the world’s cheapest car, on fire in Mumbai in 2010. The car burst into flames as its new owner was driving it home from the showroom. He managed to get his wife and five-year-old son out of the back seat before smoke billowing from the engine turned into flames that engulfed the tiny car. Photo: AP

The draft rules are designed to bring down the fatalities on Indian roads. In 2020, nearly 132,000 people died in more than 366,000 road accidents, according to government data.

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The additional airbags would increase the cost of vehicles in India’s price-sensitive market, where most cars sell for less US$10,000. The low-cost car market is dominated by Maruti Suzuki, majority owned by Japan’s Suzuki Motor, and Hyundai Motor.

The government is inviting comments from companies and the public over the next 30 days, after which the draft rules will be finalised.

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