Government Makes Dual Airbags Mandatory For Vehicles

The Indian government has announced its decision to make the passenger side airbag mandatory in new cars. The Ministry of Road Transport and Highways in a gazette notification announced the new rule that will require all new vehicles to have dual front airbags as standard fitment from April 1, 2021. Meanwhile, existing vehicles will be required to be sold with dual airbags from August 31, 2021.

Ministry has issued Gazette notification regarding mandatory provision of an airbag for passenger seated on front seat of a vehicle, next to driver. This has been mandated as an important safety feature & is also based on suggestions of Supreme Court Committee
on Road Safety pic.twitter.com/JALS5rzHmG

— PIBIndiaMoRTH (@PIBMoRTH) March 5, 2021

The notification further said that the mandate was an important safety feature and is also based on the suggestions of the Supreme Court Committee on road safety. The need for dual front airbags has been long championed by advocates of road safety, and will be extremely beneficial on entry-level cars that often miss out on the safety feature on the base trims. That said, prices for these variants are expected to see a marginal revision as a result.

The notification further said that the airbag will need to meet the AIS 145 standard under the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) specifications.