Govt defers proposal to make 6 airbags mandatory in cars by one year: Gadkari

The government has deferred the implementation of the proposal to make six airbags mandatory in passenger cars by one year to October 1 2023 Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari said on ThursdayThe government had earlier planned to make six airbags mandatory in eightseater vehicles for enhanced safety of occupants from October 1 2022Considering the global supply chain constraints being faced by the auto industry and its impact on the macroeconomic scenario it has been decided to implement the proposal mandating a minimum of 6 Airbags in Passenger Cars M1 Category wef 01st October 2023 Gadkari said in a tweetThe minister further asserted that the safety of all passengers travelling in motor vehicles irrespective of their cost and variants is the foremost priorityAn airbag interferes between the driver and the vehicles dashboard during a collision thereby preventing serious injuriesEarlier 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 1989Also Read CBI leads major crackdown against drug cartels 127 cases registered 175 arrestA draft notification has been issued on January 14 2022 which mandates that vehicles of category M1 manufactured after October 1 2022 shall be fitted with two sideside torso airbags one each for the persons occupying front row outboard seating positions and two side curtaintube air bags one each for the persons occupying outboard seating positions it had saidLast year Gadkari in an interview to PTI had said small cars mostly purchased by lower middleclass people should also have an adequate number of airbags and had wondered why automakers are providing eight airbags only in big cars bought by rich peopleHis remarks had come against the backdrop of the automobile industry raising concerns that high taxation and stricter safety and emission norms for vehicles have made their products expensiveMostly lower middleclass people buy small economy cars and if their car wont have airbags and when accidents happen then it may result in deaths So I appeal to all car manufacturers to provide a minimum of six airbags across all variants and segments of the vehicle he had saidAccording to National Crime Records Bureau NCRB data over 155 lakh lives were lost in road crashes across India in 2021 an average of 426 daily or 18 every single hour which is the highest death figures recorded in any calendar year so farThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever