Nitin Gadkari urges carmakers to offer six airbags as standard
Union Minister of Road Transport and Highways, Nitin Gadkari, has urged carmakers in India to offer at least six airbags as standard across all variants of every model they produce, regardless of their body style or segment they're positioned in. At a meeting with the Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers (SIAM), Gadkari discussed the prospect of adding more airbags as standard to all vehicles on sale, as well as the introduction of flex-fuel vehicles in the coming year.
"Met a delegation of CEOs of SIAM (Society of Indian Automobile Manufacturers) in New Delhi today. Emphasised on the need for a quick roll-out of Flex-Fuel Vehicles (FFVs) capable of running on 100 per cent ethanol and gasoline into the Indian auto market within a year's time," the minister said in a tweet.
"In the interest of passenger safety, I have also appealed all private vehicle manufacturers to compulsorily provide a minimum of six airbags across all variants and segments of the vehicle," he added.
At present, most vehicles on sale in India priced above Rs 10 lakh offer six airbags, at least with the top-spec variant. However, most vehicles positioned at the budget end of the segment come with only two airbags at most. All cars sold in India will need to have at least two airbags starting 31 August, 2021, and most models including some of the most affordable cars on sale today are already equipped with two airbags. The two-airbag requirement was only made mandatory recently, before which some vehicles were even offered with no airbags at all.
The SIAM delegation also requested deferment of upcoming emission-based regulations such as BS6 Phase 2, CAFÈ Phase 2 and OBD regulations for two-wheelers, according to the official statement.
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