The road transport and highway ministry in its efforts to make cars safer in India, wants the carmakers to offer seatbelt reminders, airbags, reverse sensors, speed warning system with beeps as standard in cars from October 2017. The new standard safety features will help Indian cars to stand at par with the ones which are sold in the international markets.
The draft notification issued from the ministry states that four safety features will be the basic mandatory requirement for all car models. The rear sensors will help eliminate blind spot problems which prevented drivers from spotting children or low objects near the ground. The speed alert system in the vehicle will warn the driver when they exceed speed of 80kmph, while there will be a continuous audible beep when the driver exceeds 90-100kmph. Reports suggests that including these features adds about 10 per cent of cost to the base model.
Moreover, the government is also working on Bharat New Vehicle Safety Assessment Program which will hand out star rating to passenger vehicles based on how they perform under various crash tests. The frontal crash tests will be conducted at speeds of up to 64kmph, while side crash test will be conducted at speeds of up to 50kmph. The mandatory safety features will also mean that new cars will get better structural rigidity than the older ones, thereby making cars safer for commuters.
