Union Minister for Road Transport & Highways of India, Nitin Gadkari has recently announced in the parliament that every car produced in India should have mandatory six airbags. This comes as a major safety factor in the auto industry in the country. However, many car manufacturers were unhappy about it and Maruti Suzuki is no different.
The introduction of six airbags in small cars means that the price of the car increases by approximately up to Rs 20,000. The buyers, who are interested to purchase small cars that fall into the category of an entry-level hatchback, will be impacted by a small price hike. This roughly means that there might be a chance of drop in sales of the small cars.
However, on the safety side this initiative of the central government will increase the safety of the passengers. In India, most of the hatchback cars fall under Rs 10 lakh (on-road price). This initiative of installing 6 airbags can impact the sales of car manufacturers like Hyundai, Maruti Suzuki, Tata etc in India. The Chairman of Maruti Suzuki India (MSIL), RC Bhargava spoke in an interview about the sales of its cars. RC Bhargava revealed that the sales of the cars are yet to achieve the figures of 2018-19. The automotive industry is currently facing chip shortages and the addition of extra airbags will mean that recovery of the auto industry will take longer, he added.
It is important to mention that if a car manufacturer plans to fit six airbags it has to make the car structure strong. If 6 airbags are present in the car’s weak structure, it would not have a significant impact on its safety.
Apart from the mandatory fitting of 6 airbags in a car, Nitin Gadkari also made another important announcement. The distance between two toll gates on the national highways should be minimum 60km. This will mean that if there is the presence of another toll gate within a distance of 60 kms, it will be shut. Gadkari also highlighted the fact that India has five lakh accidents in a year which results in 1.5 lakh deaths. It is noteworthy to mention that the Road Transport Ministry had made it mandatory to have two airbags in a car. This mandate came in force in January this year.
Maruti Suzuki manufactures some entry-level hatchbacks like Alto, and S-Presso along with mid-segment hatchbacks like WagonR, Celerio, Swift etc.
