The Minister further said that mandatory airbags are very important from the point of view of road safety and that is why we have made them mandatory for all vehicles including economic models.
Union Minister Nitin Gadkari. (Photo: Twitter / nitin_gadkari)
Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari told the Rajya Sabha that India’s new vehicle safety assessment program, also known as India’s NCAP, has already been notified by his ministry.
In response to a question from Congress MP KTS Tulsi about the safety rules for making cars, as the number of deaths in car accidents has increased in the country, Gadkari said that all over the world, big car manufacturers have safety standards and it takes time in India as well.
“Every year, there are more than five lakh accidents in India, more than 1.5 lakh deaths are reported in these accidents, so we have made a decision and made six airbags mandatory for all vehicles,” he said. Recently, Godkarihad confirmed that all new cars made from October 1, 2022 will be equipped with six airbags.
The Minister further said that mandatory airbags are very important from the point of view of road safety and that is why we have made them mandatory for all vehicles including economic models.
Highlighting the statistics of road accidents, he said that there were 25,269 accidents in 2020 out of which 30 per cent could have been saved with the help of airbags in front collisions and 31 per cent could have been saved. Side is protected from side collisions using airbags.
He further said that under India NCAP, vehicle structural safety, adult passenger, vehicle structure rigidity, crash test safety of child passengers, vehicle evaluation from the point of view of pedestrian safety and bonnet design, active safety. Support technology, six airbag rules, 3.5 seat belt and seat belt warning system, have been included as new features.
“We want to save the lives of the people and for this reason, we are going to introduce a ‘rating system’ for manufacturing companies as well. This will create more employment opportunities in the automotive manufacturing sector as well as increase exports.” Dr. Gadkari.
India NCAP imagines that cars sold in the country will be determined by a star rating based on their safety performance. It will be implemented in phases as planned by the National Automotive Testing and R&D Infrastructure Project.